Yesterday, in two separate and unrelated incidents which occurred less than an hour apart, two different people guessed that I was a native English speaker before I had a chance to say a single word.
In fact, the first woman told me that she could tell just by looking at me that English is my mother tongue.
It must’ve been that scarlet A – for “Anglo” – on my chest…
Ashkenazi Anglos have that "look"...its much harder to pin it on Sephardim.
ReplyDeleteWord Verification: ophoses
I guess they aren't native english speakers ;-)
Jameel - The question is: Does the "look" work like our American accents, or does it eventually fade away?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it fades away. It's in our body language, too. I used to be able to blame my american clothes, but nothing I wear is American any more, except one or two things picked up on sale during my kibbud av v'em trips. "Israelis" also shop there.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, someone used to send us "natural health" magazines which analized faces and claimed you could tell what foods a person was raised on by the way their faces develop. Maybe that's it. We're branded.
Muse - I'm sure you're right that it's our body language. I also do most of my clothes shopping here, and in general, I dress more or less like most of my Israeli neighbors.
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