I once worked for a British manufacturer of sophisticated scientific instruments (mass spectrometers, electron microscopes). The sales people were all Americans, and the technical ones were all British. We occupied a suite in an office building on the outskirts of a Chicago suburb that was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but there did happen to be a motel right next door that also had a nice little restaurant. We ate lunch there sometimes, but more often we would just "run over to the motel" to get coffee or soda or whatever "to go."
One afternoon about lunch time, a visiting British engineer walked up to my desk and said, "I say, Jan -- would you like to come with me to the motel for a quick butty?"
Shocked and appalled, I said something like "I most certainly would not!" with all the righteous indignation I could muster and then proceeded to tell him what a crass lowlife piece of scum I thought he was to suggest such a thing.
It turns out that "butty" is British slang for "sandwich."
No comments:
Post a Comment