Re: Somewhat Off-Topic: thinking in conlangs

Charlie wrote:

>Nowadays, after spending 2+ hours on a Sunday afternoon with our
>Hispanic community, I find that the next English-speaker who contacts
>me will get at least the first sentence in Spanish, unless I'm able
>to catch myself.
>
I spent most of (our) summer 1967 travelling in South America on both
business and pleasure. I went for days at a time without speaking English,
and on those rare occasions when I spoke Engl, with other USans or Latinos
who wanted to speak English, I ended up with a headache. :-(  Very curious.

Indonesia was different, as I spoke English in most of my classes and with
many of my colleagues, who'd taken advanced degrees in the US and were very
proud (justifiably) of their English ability.

Amusing incident one day back in Ann Arbor:
Phone rings.
Me: hello?
Phone: Salaam alaikum!
Me: (thinking it was an Indonesian whom I might know) wasalaam alaikum!
Phone: babble in (I suppose) Arabic.....
Me:  Uhhh.... followed by good-humored explanations on both sides. It was,
of course, a wrong number.