How Can You Tell?

How Can You Tell?

They were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

Acts 2:6

My travels have taken me to many major cities in the United States and abroad, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, Auckland, Munich, and Bangkok. The biggest challenge, of course, is navigating the languages that change from place to place.

My Texas accent is often a point of fascination to people in other places. And although my more colloquial words and phrases sound perfectly normal to me, other people stumble over them.

For instance, when I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I worked for United States Steel Corporation. One day an Italian engineer who worked in the office with us came to my desk to ask a question. In answering, I referred to something as being “yay long.” Now in Texas, when you say an object is “yay long,” you also have to show with your hands how long you really mean, because “yay long” does not have just one set definition. It can be whatever length you are describing at the moment.

He looked at me curiously and asked, “How long did you say?”

I said, holding up my hands again, “About this long.”

He grinned and said, “No, that’s not what you said.”

Because yay long was such a normal descriptive term for me, I could not recall exactly what I had said. Then it dawned on me. “Oh, you mean yay long.”

He laughed and said, “Yes, that’s it! What does that mean?”

Holding up my hands once again, I laughed and said, “About this long.”

My Italian friend nodded and asked, “Say, when you went to school in Texas, what was your major, anyway?”

I smiled and joked with an exaggerated drawl, “Speech. Cain’t you tay-ul?”

Heavenly Father, we are honored and humbled that you always take the time to speak to us in ways that we can understand. We want to hear your voice, Lord, and we know that you hear and understand us when we speak to you. Amen.