Diplomacy at its best

An expat Aussie bloggee has sent me the following link about how a certain Oz diplomat got himself, innocently, into some embarrassing situations through abuse of language:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070830/tod-uk-australia-language-b7e5c6f_1.html

I managed ,as a Brit Dip, to avoid such embarrassments but could have got myself into a rare old pickle when a young Political Officer in the then Aden Protectorates. My Arabic was at a very rudimentary stage and on one occasion concluding a rather halting conversation with the local Sheikh-or Sultan to be more accurate I urged him not to forget something-'. La Tizni ya Sultan Ahmed' I said-too late I realised that I should have said 'La tinsah' -'La tizni' meaning 'don't commit adultery'

He looked a bit startled and then replied in excellent English 'That's excellent advice'

The wife went one better at a diplomatic function in Dubai rushing up with a bloke to a women she had also just met saying-'you two must meet, you will have so much in common'

'We have' said the American Ambassador 'We are married'

Labels: Diplomatic incidents

  ¶ 8:27 AM