<$BlogRSDURL$>
Musings from the Merse
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
 
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:

 
Comments: Post a Comment
Happenings in A small Scottish Community

Links

Comments to Huttonian

Disgruntled Commuter

Town Mouse

Oz Blog

Zoe Blog

Xenophobia

Mike Bishop

British Bloggers Directory

Digital Moon

Havering On

Country Strife

Coldstream Pipe Band

Flyte-Tipping and Other Pastimes

'Top Scottish Websites' - www.our-scotland.org

ARCHIVES
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 / 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 / 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 / 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 / 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 / 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 / 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 / 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 / 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 / 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 / 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 / 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 / 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 / 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 / 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 / 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 / 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 / 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 / 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 / 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 / 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 / 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 / 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 / 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 / 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 / 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 / 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 / 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 / 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 / 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 / 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 / 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 / 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 / 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 / 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 / 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 / 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 / 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 / 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 / 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 / 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 / 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 / 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 / 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 / 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 / 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 / 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 / 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 / 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 / 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 / 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 / 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 / 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 / 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 / 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 / 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 / 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 / 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 / 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 / 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 / 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 / 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 / 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 / 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009 / 08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009 / 09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009 / 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009 / 12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010 / 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010 / 03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010 / 05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010 / 06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010 / 07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010 / 08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010 / 12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011 / 11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011 / 12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012 /


Powered by Blogger