Rob is Poolie

We returned to our Durham home a few days ago and are tremendously thankful for the wonderful time we had with friends and family in both Virginia and Texas. But we are also thankful for being “home” again....even if we are reminded afresh of how difficult it is to understand English!

We were meticulously careful on our flight to the States to avoid picking up any bugs -- an antibacterial spraydown was our standard ritual after touching anything on the airplane. We didn't want to be sick for our big vacation! But we weren't nearly so careful on the flight back. So I'm now sniffling my way through a cold (three days in, seven or so to go). Last night one of our friends expressed their sympathy by saying that they were sorry that “Rob is poolie.” Huh? It wasn‘t too hard to figure out that “poolie” was just the anglicized pronunciation of “poorly.” More surprising was the lack of a verb in the sentence -- shouldn‘t I be “doing poolie” or “feeling poolie”? Nope, I‘m just “poolie.” It seems that the comment for a coughing or sneezing automobile would be “That car is poolie.”

You know what I say to that? Aaaaaaachooooooooo!