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Comment by inanutshellus | Hacker News Reader

Very much reminds me of a Kids in the Hall skit from ages ago. Two guys are at a party, one says "hello", the other says -- in perfect English -- "Sorry I don't understand you, I don't speak English. please don't beat me up." The first guy assumes it's a joke and plays along until he gets annoyed at the perfect accent and responses ("no really, I don't understand what you're saying, nor what I'm saying, I've just practiced this conversation a lot. please don't beat me up.")

Eventually the first guy tires of being mocked by this guy claiming not to speak English and beats the guy up.

Totally hilarious example of what you experienced taken to an extreme.

View on HN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vgoEhsJORU

Since we're posting skits, I'll post this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk

When I was a kid my boychoir hosted a choir from Estonia (this was before the fall of the Iron Curtain, so this was a big deal), and I remember when I was trying to help out back-stage at their concert and one of the Estonian boys needed help, but the only thing he could say was "I don't speak English", in a perfect midwestern accent (the Estonian choir director had drilled his entire choir on that one phrase). The cognitive dissonance was hard to deal with.

Prior to a trip to Poland I listen to some language tapes and learn how to say "I don't understand Polish" in polish (something like "nya rezumium popolski").

Almost everybody understood English and finally when I ran into somebody who didn't and used that Polish phrase, I realized I could have just said in English "I don't understand Polish" and it actually would have been clearer communication.

I don’t understand why it would have been clearer to use a language they didn’t understand. Actually a lot of comments under this article aren’t making a lot of sense. A lot of claims of of paradox where I don’t see it.

By saying something in their language, you imply that you do speak a little bit of Polish.

I learned the same phrase in perfect BBC Polish and it backfired. I said it so well that the Poles just ignored it and continued to speak in Polish. Then I ended up with a Polish girlfriend back in the states and learned real fast. She was gorgeous.

That was exactly the response I got.

However, I did not end up with a Polish girlfriend. Your "She was gorgeous", is, I recall, redundant.

> Your "She was gorgeous", is, I recall, redundant.

Your recollection is accurate

I wonder if that’s before or after the classic Family Guy gag:

https://youtu.be/cFN46vwg0M0?si=ycF5-duHXKBXoOZ1

Kids in the hall ended 7 years before family guy premiered.

They picked up a new season https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11921588/

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