Evening at a cinema. The pre-film commercials are running. A voice in a dog food ad asks rhetorially:
“Do you want your dog to be full of energy?”
A teenage girl in the back:
“No.”
***
Category: English
Serving with distinction
Afternoon in a coffee shop. Two baristas serving one customer.
“What’s on the pulled oats you got there?”
“It’s the sweet chili marinade and I’ve added some parsley.”
“Ok, I’ll have the halloumi instead.”
“Can I put cottage cheese on top of the dry bread?”
“Do you want syrup with your chili chai latte?”
“No thanks.”
“Yeah… it’s better to ask and make sure.”
***
Deciding together
Afternoon at a café. A middle-aged couple. The man begins to converse.
“I thought I could buy some onion.”
“Mhm.”
“Bland onion.”
“Yes.”
“Like fresh onion. An omelette would be good. I could get some pineapple also.”
“That would be good, yeah.”
***
Out in the town
Late afternoon at a restaurant. Two young women tweeting.
“Is that like good grammar? ‘Strolling around Copenhagen’?”
“Yeah.”
[pause]
“Ok so I wrote ‘Casually exploring Copenhagen with this hottie'”
“With this hottie?”
“Yeah! Ok, look up cutie, smile, open your mouth, with your teeth out…”
[giggling]
“Ok, savage!”
***
I don’t trust you
Evening infront of a shopping mall. A young man talks on the phone.
“Hey you, yeah, I’m on the street, I’m outside. No. You get down here. No you come out, now. Now! You come out now! Yeah. [hands the phone to a young man next to him] Thanks a lot. Ok, so my friend comes out now. You give him twenty euros, ok? You just say it’s from me, ok?”
“…. well… nah… It’s too complicated.”
“Just give it to him, and then you…”
“Forget it. I won’t.”
“Yeah… well I need to… [walks away]”
***
More is more
Afternoon. A well-dressed elderly couple walk by a restaurant. The woman says to the man:
“Hey… look! A bottle of red wine, 10 euros! Should we go?”
“We already drank one bottle, darling.”
***
Dizzy
On a bus. An elderly lady hops on and starts talking to another across the aisle.
“There’s a fine hassle at the bank! What a cue. And one man fell on top of me. He fell on me! He was feeling dizzy you see. He had a dizzy fit. And was sent to the hospital. After the fall… I didn’t need to [pause] Luckily nothing happened to me! Even though I was squished right under him! [laughter]”
“Yeah, sometimes things…”
“…once a man’s shopping tote broke on the escalator, a canvas tote, the seam in the bottom tore up, all the books scattered around… I lost my step among the books. Yes… well…”
***
Parentage
In a restaurant, lunch hour. Two middle-aged women talking.
“Our girl, she’s really social and outgoing but the boy – just like his father.”
***
Imperative mood
On a train. Afternoon. Voice on the tannoy.
“And for the English speaking passangers: we are having technical problems so we can’t go as fast as we want to. We will be late about five to fifteen minutes. Apologize.”
***
Did you see that coming?
Coffee house, afternoon. Two young men talking.
“He had a wife, did you know that? For years. And now he’s dating, a woman. Like… I didn’t see that coming. ”
“Yeah, I’ve seen… in concerts, I’ve seen him together with…”
“Yeah, hmm. Didn’t see that… but I’ll be in Berlin so I won’t be…”
“Maybe they’ll do a broadcast in radio or…”
“Yeah, I’m sure….”
***