I kid you not at Twisted DNA

I kid you not

Published June 19th, 2006

When you move to a different country and, somewhat, adapt to a different culture, you get used to certain language constructs and mannerisms which, if used in India or with friends from India, would be received with confusion, frustration, sarcasm or a combination of all.

On my last trip to India, a friend of mine actually said, with genuine surprise and shock, “You changed a lot! You are talking like Americans, as if you are born and brought up there.” If, for one moment, you think that was a compliment, you don’t know anything about sarcasm.

Here is a funny situation I gotten myself into on my last trip:

Me: Whatever happened to Mr. ABC?

Friend: Oh, you don’t know, na? He became a disciple of a swamiji and has sworn to celibacy, ya.

Me: No kidding!!

Friend: (Quite angry) No I am not joking! Why will I joke about such things? I am not the kind who spreads lies and rumors for fun.

Me: Er… When I said “No kidding,” I was not referring to your comedic skills, you know. It was an exclamation.

Friend: I don’t know. Talking like Americans has become a fashion these days.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

12 Responses to “I kid you not”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 Ilaiy Jun 20th, 2006 at 9:42 am

Well you feel that you have not changed a bit .. But i guess it is always there in the other person mind that you have changed ..

Well it has been ages since I travelled back to india so I would not know ..

./thanks
ilaiy
2 Twisted DNA Jun 20th, 2006 at 9:45 am

I think I have changed. Not changing when living in a differnt country is impossible. What I don’t understand is why people act surprised upon realizing I am changed and worse yet, why people expect me to be exactly like I was 10 years ago.
3 Ilaiy Jun 20th, 2006 at 10:46 am

Well changed meaning .. As a person you are still the same .. Well I donot know should say that because 10 years back I had the same nice time as what I do now ..

The way I look at things are a little different now ..I think if I was in India it would have been the same ..

Thats just my personal opinion .

./thanks
ilaiy
4 Casement Jun 20th, 2006 at 2:56 pm

Have you heard something like…When in Rome…

So, replace your no kidding with ….arrrrrrrrreeeey, realllyy, the next time when you talk to a friend in India:)

Poor fella…I can relate to him.
5 sonia Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:40 am

very funny - and so true! i actually had the same experience with a dear nigerian friend who was very *earnest*. i think i said sth like ..nah! you must be lying!..and he was really upset and said - i do not lie. i am a good christian!

it’s interesting how so often a part of wanting to hang on to the past is to expect people not to ‘change’. i mean even if someone hasn’t actually moved countries, the passage of time still ensures lots of changes! i had this one friend who started every sentence with ..’but in the old days..you were like this//’. i couldn’t be friends with her anymore - she wasn’t interested in me actually, but in what/who she thought i was.
6 Jamie Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:27 pm

Other reactions you must test:

“Shut Up!!”
“Get out!!”
“You’re killing me!”
7 Twisted DNA Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:55 pm

Casement: I’ve gotten similar reactions by just saying “Really?!” which was met with “Ya, I am not lying”.

Sonia: I am guessing people are more willing to accept change as long as the change is similar to other people’s change. If you change “radically” by going to a diffent country, people have more trouble handling it!

Jamie: LOL, just imagining saying things like “Get out” to people is cracking me up.
8 Anu Jun 22nd, 2006 at 9:24 pm

This post has been removed by the author.
9 Navreet Jun 29th, 2006 at 10:02 pm

This post has been removed by the author.
10 Navreet Jun 29th, 2006 at 10:03 pm

Thanks to the diversity in india ..trust me… you don’t have to travel as far as America for people to react like that..

I moved a lot of places within India… Jodhpur…Delhi …Jamnagar…Hyderabad…Junagadh
…Pune..Chennai..Mumbai…Bangalore… and every time I shifted places and went back …such reactions hit me. But yes the sarcasm is higher when it is the US of A …..

PS# Thanks for visiting my blog.
11 cbrao Jul 21st, 2006 at 5:19 am

I can’t resist laugh after reading this. I kept laughting after reading this. Your blogs work like a tonic, when read early in the morning.Laughter is good for health.I thoroughly enjoyed the sense of humour in your blogs.
12 Dilnavaz Jul 28th, 2006 at 3:39 am

That was a scream! And I totally believe it. I moved back to India 5 months ago after 5 years in the United States and I still find myself explaining and clarifying certain figures of speech. Especially “are you kidding me?”

Search

Passing Thoughts

[+] I am excited that the Phoenix probe successfully landed safely and peacefully on Mars. Or, as Ms. Hilary Clinton would put it, “It landed under heavy sniper fire.” [1 comment]

[+] Two girls scouts are protesting girl scout cookies because they say they are endangering some species. If you looked at the nutrition information of the cookies they sell, you would agree that one of the endangered species is mankind. [0 comments]

[+] According to this news item the definition of rape has been widened. If a woman refuses sex in the middle of the act, the rest of the act is considered rape. I guess she can re-accept sex making it consensual again. Don’t be surprised if you see criminal cases with the following description: “She went to his place at 8:00PM. They had coffee. They had sex from 8:30PM to 8:54PM. He raped her from 8:55PM to 9:01PM. Then she reluctantly agreed to sex. So, technically, he partially raped her from 9:02PM to 9:15PM. They both had dinner. Later they had sex after he briefly raped her.” [6 comments]

[+] Pentagon admitted that they accidentally shipped missile parts to Taiwan. Be assured that US is not in the business of selling arms. It might so happen that Taiwan may accidentally ship some money to US in the future. Who knows what accidents happen. [1 comment]

[+] Sarah Jessica Parker is whining that she won the “Unsexiest Woman Alive” award from Maxim readers. If you ask me, she should be quite glad that she didn’t win the “Unsexiest Horse” award. [2 comments]