7 ms·
> At the dinner table a Norwegian is likely to say something like “Jeg vil ha potetene” (literally “I will have the potatoes”, which sounds presumptuous and hau
by ryao 1y ago
> At the dinner table a Norwegian is likely to say something like “Jeg vil ha potetene” (literally “I will have the potatoes”, which sounds presumptuous and haughty in English) where a brit might say “Could I please have some potatoes?”.
I find “I will have the potatoes” to be perfectly fine English and not haughty in the slightest. Is this a difference between British English and American English?
- jvanderbot 1y agoWhen ordering, "I will have" sounds reasonable. When asking someone to pass them to you, just imagine them turning to you, looking you in the eye, and asserting "I will have the potatoes" like it's some kind of ultimatum. Yes, that is strange.
- roxolotl 1y agoIt’s such an anachronistic statement I laughed out loud reading your comment. I even was taught that you can’t pass things mid air. You place the potatoes down between each person required to pass them to the person who wants them.
- jvanderbot 1y agoA non sequitur perhaps?
- noobermin 1y agoAmericans are extremely polite, and American English is replete with niceties in everyday speech. It's funny, having been a tourist abroad, it's only living in a significantly non American country for a few years that lead me to realise this. I even lived in another country albeit a former US colony for ten years and didn't even notice it there given American influence. I stopped saying, stuff "I would like a latte today" or more Midwestern (could I get a latte today etc) in singapore because people would just get confused. Same with being too polite when recieving things. There's ways to be polite but it usually involves less words because anything else confuses people.
- sudahtigabulan 1y ago> could I get a latte today actually To me (non-American) the above sounds like sarcasm, not politeness. Adding "today" and/or "actually" could mean you've had it with their delays. I like to joke that Americans always seem to find ways to get offended by innocuous things, but in this case the joke is on me.
- 3eb7988a1663 1y agoAmerican - I fully agree with your interpretation. Throwing on the time component gives up all pretense of being polite.
- bluefirebrand 1y agoTone of voice and mannerism matters here a lot To me (Canadian, not American) "Could I get a latte today actually" sounded something like "Normally I get something other than a latter but actually today I would like a latte instead" Not rude at all, but kind of assumes some context
- zzo38computer 1y agoI would think that it depends on the context. To me it seems (without any context) that it might mean that you changed your mind about what day you wanted it. This does not seem to make sense in many contexts, though.
- ryao 1y agoIt makes sense if you are a regular and today, you want something other than your usual.
- rr808 1y agoMaybe its a NY thing I was shocked when I heard people in restaurants saying "I want...". Growing up outside the US "want" is a very impolite word. People in US are polite but direct, usually English/Irish people are much less direct.
- SoftTalker 1y agoIt would also depend on the tone of voice and even body language used.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- koala_man 1y agoI'm Norwegian and concluded that she meant when ordering, such as for a choice of potatoes or pasta. This makes sense since the context is translation for tourism. Otherwise, the normal, casual way would be "kan du sende potetene?" i.e. "could you pass the potatoes?", lit. "can you send the potatoes?" (This assumes it wasn't physically possible to simply reach across people to grab it yourself with what's known as "the Norwegian arm")