Scribbling #20: The One About the Fat Man Throwing Out Little Plastic Cones

An abstract and hopefully mysterious title, I feel.

So, I was on my way to work, using the bus network between Sala and Nitra.  This wasn't by choice, as I'd much rather go to work by car, but since it had decided to become paralysed (master cylinder broke so none of the wheels turned) I suddenly had a new pastime to indulge in: waiting at bus stops.  It was on one of these glorious occasions that one of my work colleagues turned up next to me, and soon a discussion about the great divides between countries ensued, such as Slovakia with its West and East, Great Britain with its North and South, Canada with its West, East, North and South.

Slovakia, as an economy, is doing okay, but its West/East gap is gradually widening.  Bratislava, the capital, is becoming more westernised, where capitalism is becoming more and more prevalent there.  This is good news for businesses wanting to invest into somewhere where the labour is relatively cheap, but the workforce is also quite well educated.  Case in point, there is someone who works at our place that speaks Slovak, Czech (there is enough difference between the two - about 20,000 words), English and German.  His job is not international sales, its throwing plastic mouldings into a big chipping machine.  On the other hand, Slovakia's reluctance to be part of a €400 billion emergency EU 'bank rescue package' is not really that surprising, since it is one of the few countries to do 'okay' during the recession.  Not great, but okay.  We (myself and Mrs. C) are finding out on a first-hand basis how the recession has effected the housing market, as we trawl through the internet to find some decent places before our rental contract runs out.

This conversation was interrupted by a small vehicle that painted road lines in the middle of the road.  I had never seen such a contraption before in Slovakia, so I stood there vaguely enchanted, watching it and its driver carry out their rather mundane job.  Man and machine, together doing practical work that helps others decide which side of the road that they should be on and so therefore help save lives and stop accidents.  Very noble.  Almost as noble as the fat man sitting on the back of the vehicle, throwing out small plastic cones every now and again, so that no passing car would ruin the line.  How that was a job in the paper, I won't ever know, but at least it gets you out in the fresh air, I guess.

Scribbling #19: The Sign Language Barrier.

The questioning glance from the work colleague was clear enough, so I held my right hand up with three digits up, indicating that I just threw three pieces of product away that I considered to be no good.  I didn't think much about it until the colleague's questioning glance descended into the pit of his furrowed brow and then stayed there, not able to get out.  He asked if I meant 'four'.

And then I remembered the thumb.

In continental Europe it is quite common for us Brits to completely miscommunicate by thinking that we are being oh-so-very-clever by getting over the language barrier and instead use some basic mime practice instead.  And then we get worried and not a little bit frustrated when even this doesn't work.  As in all cases, the thumb represents 'one', not the first digit, so when I held up three fingers, my colleague immediately and quite naturally believed that I was being very lazy in not using my thumb, or that I had some sort of horrible hand disease that stopped me from using my other fingers unless I placed my thumb in a special way upon my pinky.  In any case, a message that was supposed to have been as simple as this that did not go across well, will probably not be the end of them.  Imagine if you were in a bar or restaurant and you ordered three drinks like I did, and you get four.  Now imagine the hilarity and subsequent slight embarrassment when your friends point this out, believing that you got yourself two, just because.  Same difference.

In many other countries, using hand signs could lead to getting arrested or at least get you into trouble with the local population.  Use of the thumb in a British context means 'goodbye' or 'that's good'.  Use of the thumb in a Middle Eastern context is the equivalent of flipping the bird at someone.  And in a Japanese (let's cover all the angles here, shall we?) means to indicate one of a male gender.  No idea how they came up with that one, but hey.

Also, I was taken aback one day when one lady looked at me very seriously and slapped her wrist a couple of times.  I thought I had done something wrong and, even if I am now over 30, I thought a slap on the wrist was slightly over the top.  After 20 minutes going through the Slovak-English dictionary with her, I found that all she wanted to do was ask what the time was.  I spent another ten trying to explain what a 'slap on the wrist' meant in English.  I was quite impressed with this, since it took at least half an hour to explain 'it's raining cats and dogs outside' last time...