...And DOS of these UNOs!

Yo no hablo mucho de Español, pero yo se cuando alguien esta siendo un idiota.

I actually overheard someone speaking a few decibels too loudly to a Panamanian barista in an embarassingly SoCal accent yesterday:

“I’ll take, um, uno of these here, and dos of these unos!”

Then she looked at the others behind her in line as if she just earned herself a gold star. Instead she was met with a combination of averted glances and facepalms, which she promptly ignored.

Moments like this are some minor but clear examples are what makes me not want to be identified as an American. Sure, I’m from the US, born in California too. But I’m not with these people.

When I’m not in the US, I don’t try and pretend that I am or constantly compare the place I’m at with the place I’m from. I try to abide by the language and the rules and the culture of the place I’m in. Sure, I make lots of mistakes, but I’m never going to make them someone else’s problem if I can help it. I’m going to try to adapt to my environment.

This means I’m not going to speak loudly and over-enunciate my English words to people who speak a different language altogether. It’s just bad for everyone to treat people like they’re stupid just because they weren’t raised speaking English like I was. I don’t need to rub anything in.

And I really wish my fellow Americans wouldn’t either.