Is it just me or has anybody else noticed that many Dominicans just won't answer the question, any question. They seem to have to go round and round the mulberry bush even to something simple like "has it stopped raining?" which to my mind has only three possible answers : yes, no or I don't know. I have had to start verbally fighting our 3 year old daughter now she has started school. To the questio " do you want a piece of chocolate?" there are only two possible answers: In spanish Si, por favor or No, gracias or possibly Mas tarde por favor is acceptable. Or in english.
- Thread starter granca
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Is it just me?
I'm always getting peeved at my wife because when I ask her something, I never get a straight answer.
After asking a question, the next thing I say is: You didn't answer the question!
Don
After asking a question, the next thing I say is: You didn't answer the question!
Don
its usually caused by a lower educational level. there's plenty of that in the capital, but generally people here are more educated.
No, my wife does it, and she has 2 degrees in the DR, and one in Canada. She hates when I do it back to her.
interesting. i've noticed a big change since i moved to the capital; it happens far less than when i lived in santiago.
His wife doesn't allow him to ask questions!
lolJust kidding Mike, could not resist the come-back.
Don
i have a different prolem with miesposo's answers:
dv8: you want coca cola or rojo?
miesposo: yes.
:tired::tired::tired:
dv8: you want coca cola or rojo?
miesposo: yes.
:tired::tired::tired:
Oh yea, people from Santo Domingo think faster, I never saw in Santiago a guy driving a pickup trunk with one hand on wheel and with a spoon in the other hand having his meal of meat, rice and beans on the go this called my attention at a traffic light in Los Alcarrizos. People from Santiago take the time to lunch at home or in a restaurant.
Santo Domingo is a crazy city same like NY or California, maybe that is the reason they respond faster they don't have time to think.
JJ
So its not just me! No you're right I don't live in SD. An often heard expression in our house: Por el amor de Dios, Si o No, mind you she's stopped shouting now at least when having a conversation with me. I used to say: espera. espera, voy en el otro habitation por escuchar ti mejor.
It's not confined to Dominicans. In the English speaking world you'll find the Irish from Eire (the Republic in the south, not the northern part) have similar responses. It's where my parents hailed from so I'm allowed to say this :cheeky:. Ask 'Did it rain yesterday?' or 'Are you going to the pub?' and instead of a yes or no answer, you get something which is a lot more discursive and starts 'Well, it's like this...........'
I was wondering whether it had anything to do with cultures where the oral tradition is valued, oral history for example? It is certainly true of parts of the English speaking Caribbean Report of Research on Oral Tradition in the Caribbean
Maybe the need for a yes/no answer is our problem as westerners coming from a busy rat-race type society where all we have time for is the briefest of answers?
And I don't think this is confined to foreigners here married to Dominicans, I often get discursive answers from Dominican friends. I'm accustomed to it now but when I was new I experienced it as 'beating around the bush'. I've stopped expecting what I saw as 'normal' in my country of origin to apply here........:cheeky:
I was wondering whether it had anything to do with cultures where the oral tradition is valued, oral history for example? It is certainly true of parts of the English speaking Caribbean Report of Research on Oral Tradition in the Caribbean
Maybe the need for a yes/no answer is our problem as westerners coming from a busy rat-race type society where all we have time for is the briefest of answers?
And I don't think this is confined to foreigners here married to Dominicans, I often get discursive answers from Dominican friends. I'm accustomed to it now but when I was new I experienced it as 'beating around the bush'. I've stopped expecting what I saw as 'normal' in my country of origin to apply here........:cheeky:
Factually of course he is correct - he would like coca cola or Rojo.
Maybe if you asked him if he would like coca cola or would he PREFER Rojo he might indicate a preference.
My belief in this instance though is that since Dominicans respond to the last question only (rojo was your last offer) then that would be his preference. Either that or he doesn't mind which as long as you bring him something to drink PDQ!! :cheeky:
aranoid: ~ Grahame.
It's not that we look for a "Yes" or "No" answer.
It's that they NEVER answer the question at all!
Don
Some possible reasons:
# 1 - Lack of education.
#2 - The high tendency to lie makes them always give vague answers to even the most simple questions.
#3 - Their mothers drank lots of beer and/or rum during the pregnancy.
#4 - They have no jobs or anything else to rush back to, so they want the conversation to endure.
Any combination thereof.
# 1 - Lack of education.
#2 - The high tendency to lie makes them always give vague answers to even the most simple questions.
#3 - Their mothers drank lots of beer and/or rum during the pregnancy.
#4 - They have no jobs or anything else to rush back to, so they want the conversation to endure.
Any combination thereof.
Non sequitur answers actually have to do with the 800 years of Caliphate rule after which the Spanish language got politically engineered (over a period of 200 contentious years) to mollify eight different Iberian languages.
The project resulted in a highly legible language. Since it got published only afer the arrival of the printing press, Spanish has clear spelling and pronunciation rules, not the agglomeration of monks' miscopyings which the press froze into the horrendous spelling of French and English.
Unfortunately, the project also embedded a raft of Arabisms that do not exist in other Romance languages. Arabic is a flowery language that leads to Exaggeration and favors Uncertainty. It also gave Spanish its Reflexivity.
Reflexivity suffuses the Spanish language, as the below demonstrates.
"se cay? el vaso y se rompi?" = "the glass fell and broke itself", versus English and French,
"I broke the glass" = "Je caissez le verre" (pardon my Fench spelling, I said they had awful rules).
Language carries culture. A baby learning from its mother will learn from sentences like those above to shrink from responsibility for the action. Uncertainty follows and accountability often does not translate. To an Anglophone this is bad. To an Arab or a Latino, it is an asset. Perhaps differences in Exaggeration, Uncertainty and Accountability led to the Falklands fiasco.
It's culture. Live with it. It gives you August?n Lara and Rocio Dorcal instead of the mess of Mick Jagger et al.
The project resulted in a highly legible language. Since it got published only afer the arrival of the printing press, Spanish has clear spelling and pronunciation rules, not the agglomeration of monks' miscopyings which the press froze into the horrendous spelling of French and English.
Unfortunately, the project also embedded a raft of Arabisms that do not exist in other Romance languages. Arabic is a flowery language that leads to Exaggeration and favors Uncertainty. It also gave Spanish its Reflexivity.
Reflexivity suffuses the Spanish language, as the below demonstrates.
"se cay? el vaso y se rompi?" = "the glass fell and broke itself", versus English and French,
"I broke the glass" = "Je caissez le verre" (pardon my Fench spelling, I said they had awful rules).
Language carries culture. A baby learning from its mother will learn from sentences like those above to shrink from responsibility for the action. Uncertainty follows and accountability often does not translate. To an Anglophone this is bad. To an Arab or a Latino, it is an asset. Perhaps differences in Exaggeration, Uncertainty and Accountability led to the Falklands fiasco.
It's culture. Live with it. It gives you August?n Lara and Rocio Dorcal instead of the mess of Mick Jagger et al.