UNBOTHERED BY SLANG
A new MP was asked how he feels when GIs call him 'pig'.
"That doesn't bother me," he replied. "What I can't get used
to, though, is people calling me 'sir'."
ONE AND ONLY LANGUAGE
An American colonel who was visitor to West Germany thought that all Germans
would speak English because there were so many American forces there with whom
they had to co-operate as NATO allies.
The conductor on the train that took him somewhere punched his ticket, then
chatted cordially for a bit, making gestures like a windmill or helicopter.
When he had finished and gone about his round, an American WAC in the compartment
leaned forward and inquired the colonel if he spoke German.
"No, why should I? English is the language for NATO."
"Then that explains," she said, "why you didn't bat an eye, sir,
when he told you that you were in the wrong train."