Did I flunk English?

[Nancy5]

Last night we went out to dinner.  This is the fifth time I heard the hostess say "Can I sit you"?  Shouldn't it be can I seat you?  Am I wrong or did I sleep through English.

Was the person from another country?  They tend to screw up the English language all the time.  You can always tell when that is who you are on live chat with as well when you read things like

Let me explain you this

And other foolish lines.




Nope she was as American as I am.  She was young, probably in mid 20's.

[pectacon]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.

[countrygirl12]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.

I can handle not speaking perfect English or using perfect grammar but when some dumb butt starts to close my credit card that I have had for over 18 years (and this cannot be reversed once she does it) I have a right to be very P*ssed off!  Especially when I said nothing about closing it.

I finally told her in a very angry way  DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY ACCT and I hung up on her.  I called right back and asked for who ever answering the phone to transfer me to the UNITED STATES.  And got the issue resolved.

Obviously you have never had to deal with some incompetent buffoon struggling to understand English and answer questions or straighten out an issue on your account.  Some "mistakes" cannot be undone. 
It is aggravating when you ask a question and you get an answer that has NOTHING to do with the question you just asked. smh

[Nancy5]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.



I am by far an English major, but I have never heard can I sat you.  Even my daughter's 10 year old son looked at us funny when he heard that.

[Nancy5]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.

I can handle not speaking perfect English or using perfect grammar but when some dumb butt starts to close my credit card that I have had for over 18 years (and this cannot be reversed once she does it) I have a right to be very P*ssed off!  Especially when I said nothing about closing it.

I finally told her in a very angry way  DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY ACCT and I hung up on her.  I called right back and asked for who ever answering the phone to transfer me to the UNITED STATES.  And got the issue resolved.

Obviously you have never had to deal with some incompetent buffoon struggling to understand English and answer questions or straighten out an issue on your account.  Some "mistakes" cannot be undone. 
It is aggravating when you ask a question and you get an answer that has NOTHING to do with the question you just asked. smh

I never had  a credit card problem like you, but our cable went out a few years ago and when we called we got someone from the Philippines.  I agree with you it's annoying and frustrating when you are asking for help and they can't understand you and you can't understand them.  After about 15 minutes of this we ended the call and my husband called back and said he wanted to talk to someone in United States.  He got connected and the problem was resolved immediately.

[berthabutt]

    Oh, lighten up, accents are charming.  As far as gramer goes, some in this forum don't know the difference between 'accept' and 'except', Bahahahaha!  Glass houses.....................

I see what you did there. 

(Also it's 'grammar', not gramer. Sorry, couldn't help it.)

                                  Good for you, lol!  Was not sure anyone would catch that deliberate typo.   Just making a point, none of us is perfect.

[camellia0]

Do you think that maybe you did not hear her clearly because the restaurant was loud?

[Yukichan77]

I would say "seat" sounds better but English grammar definitely can be confusing at times haha.

[countrygirl12]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.

I can handle not speaking perfect English or using perfect grammar but when some dumb butt starts to close my credit card that I have had for over 18 years (and this cannot be reversed once she does it) I have a right to be very P*ssed off!  Especially when I said nothing about closing it.

I finally told her in a very angry way  DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY ACCT and I hung up on her.  I called right back and asked for who ever answering the phone to transfer me to the UNITED STATES.  And got the issue resolved.

Obviously you have never had to deal with some incompetent buffoon struggling to understand English and answer questions or straighten out an issue on your account.  Some "mistakes" cannot be undone. 
It is aggravating when you ask a question and you get an answer that has NOTHING to do with the question you just asked. smh

I never had  a credit card problem like you, but our cable went out a few years ago and when we called we got someone from the Philippines.  I agree with you it's annoying and frustrating when you are asking for help and they can't understand you and you can't understand them.  After about 15 minutes of this we ended the call and my husband called back and said he wanted to talk to someone in United States.  He got connected and the problem was resolved immediately.

I do not even remember what the problem was.  But she was like oh so you want to close your account.  smh  I think it had to do with a charge for something I ordered and I never received the item.  I had the tracking info and it went so far and then just fell off the face of the Earth.  I finally got it fixed.  The charge was reversed. But yes it is extremely aggravating when you cannot get in touch with someone who can speak the language well enough to communicate.  Same with people who have the credit card in other countries - they need to deal with people who speak and understand their own language well enough to communicate.

[teresa3200]

I think they are probably told to say things a certain way so they appear more formal and authentic to the cuisine you are about to eat.

[gaylasue]

No, you didn't flunk on that one!

[Nancy5]

I think they are probably told to say things a certain way so they appear more formal and authentic to the cuisine you are about to eat.

Applebees?☺😊

[mardukblood2009]

I would say, it should be can I seat you too. I don't know, everyone has there way of saying things. I guess as long as you know what they are talking about, then so be it.

[pectacon]

Of course when I'm calling support or something I hope I get a person who speaks flawless English too.. but does it really interfere with communication if someone (especially whose first language isn't English) makes the occasional pronunciation or grammar flub? "Can I sit you" isn't correct, but I'm certain you still understood. None of us speak in a 100% grammatically correct manner at all times, even at work, and I am willing to cut people some slack.

Obviously you have never had to deal with some incompetent buffoon struggling to understand English and answer questions or straighten out an issue on your account.  Some "mistakes" cannot be undone. 
It is aggravating when you ask a question and you get an answer that has NOTHING to do with the question you just asked. smh

Of course you had every right to be upset about that experience. I have dealt with plenty of incompetent buffoons, many of whom spoke poor English or with such a heavy accent that I could not understand - I hate that too. I have to call tech support in my job a lot and half the time it's an Indian(?) guy I can barely understand, which stresses me out and wastes my time and money.

My post was in reply to OP's question, which sounded more like a case of annoyance at someone's lazy grammar while still understanding what they said, rather than a true language barrier issue.

[JaniceSW]

As I'm quickly scanning through this thread the thought comes to me that most Americans can't speak a single foreign language so I try to give some credit to those from other countries who try to speak English.  I would say the only case where it becomes frustrating is where someone has not been screened enough that they are understandable or can understand an English speaking person on a customer service call. Those are the only times I have become exasperated.  One time I told the customer service agent I was having too much trouble communicating with him and needed to talk to somebody else. He didn't seem to want to transfer me so I hung up and called back getting a completely different person.  I listened carefully the first few sentences to make sure this person was much more fluent in English!