It Happened to MeThe Cookies--Part 2One day, while backpacking through Germany, my friend and I were ravenous, but low on cash. We decided to stop at a village market to get a few groceries. I chose some cookies and went to the front counter to make the purchase. Near the counter I noticed some packaged cookies in a large bin. They looked scrumptious and were a lot cheaper than the ones I had in my hand, so I took them instead. We left the store and looked for a place where we could eat. We devoured our sandwiches first, and then we gobbled up the cookies. We thought they were terrific. "Let's get these again," I said. "They're really cheap and tasty." My friend can read some German, but I can't, so I handed her the package so she could look for the brand name. She glanced at it and then burst out laughing. "Why are you laughing?" I asked. "Because they're dog biscuits!" she said. Adapted from a first person story by M.P., taken from The Detroit News circa 1980 Vocabulary QuestionsYour TurnPeople whose native language isn't English often have problems buying or using things. Think about a language misunderstanding that happened to you or someone you know. Home |