Helpful English Phrases!

[MikeKozlowski]

...So.

Saw a post on TwiX by a gentleman staying at a house in France, where he found this book:



He lists some of the helpful phrases one should know when visiting England:

“The duke’s park is large”

“I hate these rogues”

“Wealth shall not save men from death”

Can anybody think of some others that should be in there? (NOTE: we already know about the hovercraft full of eels, thank you.)

Mike

[Timbo W]

I have a 1930s book, Lyalls Languages of Europe, which provides useful phrases in multiple European languages for the British traveller.

Ones I liked were

Which way is the aerodrome?

and

Waiter! Fetch me a boiled egg and a bottle of brandy immediately.

[Simon Darkshade]

One from my hazy memories of secondary school German had the master regale us on bizarre phrases in a German phrase book, including:

“My aunt has a staircase, but my uncle has a box of matches.”

Something inherently gruesome waiting to happen.

It might not be English, but belongs in the Book of Useful Phrases.

[Micael]

I’ve seen an excerpt from an official phrase guide for use by Swedish soldiers when interacting with Finns during the second world war era. The phrases for chatting to women were basically pickup ones like ”you have beautiful eyes!”, and the ones for talking to men were like ”Do you want to fight?!”, ”Hands off my girl you bastard!”

[Sukhoiman]

Yes well its good to start with the lines you most expect to use for sure

[Johnnie Lyle]

I’ve seen an excerpt from an official phrase guide for use by Swedish soldiers when interacting with Finns during the second world war era. The phrases for chatting to women were basically pickup ones like ”you have beautiful eyes!”, and the ones for talking to men were like ”Do you want to fight?!”, ”Hands off my girl you bastard!”

That certainly fits some of the Swede/Finn stereotypes in SATW.