[time-nuts] 15 ns vs. 15 nS

[Chuck Harris]

Didier Juges wrote:
> John Day wrote:
>> Funniest thing is I have a very good friend, a librarian in Paris, 
>> who comes to Canada regularly. He prefers to converse in English with 
>> Francophone Canadians because he says it is easier to understand than 
>> the 18th century, rural France, based accent of the French spoken here.
>>
>>   
> Since we are so far OT, I might as well continue:
> 
> On my 1st trip to Canada from the US (around 1986), I was in line at the 
> check-in counter at the hotel and I could hear the young lady behind the 
> desk speaking in French. I did not really pay attention to what she said 
> because I was in a conversation with a colleague, but I knew it was 
> French so when my turn came, I told her in French my name and 
> reservation number. Bad idea! After a minute or so of utter confusion, 
> we both switched to English and all was well from that point on...
> 
> It happened again at the company I was visiting (in Quebec). My hosts 
> made a point of speaking French to me, which was the most embarrassing 
> thing because I had no idea what they were telling me, and I was too 
> embarrassed to tell them. After a while, they figured out and we had a 
> good laugh, in English.
> 
> I was born in France and left when I was 33, so French is no foreign 
> language to me, but in Canada, it was...

I had the same problem.  After 7 years of French language lessons
in school, I ended up in Montreal for a vacation.  And I don't know
what they were speaking, but it sure wasn't French!

-Chuck Harris