"What, You Again?"
ANY years ago a school-mate and I were staying in a small private hotel in London to sit for the Army Examination for entrance to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. All went reasonably well until the final day when we had to undergo the German language tests. We met at breakfast as usual and according to our rules we were to speak to each other in German. During the meal, I pronounced the German equivalent for "pardon" wrongly, and was immediately corrected by an old gentleman at our breakfast table with the correct
pronunciation. I realised at once that & fiad ma a mistake, but with the valour of ignorance I gail tried to cover my obvious mistake by saying "Of course that all depends on what part of Germany you were educated in," and left it at that. A youth of 18 arguing with a man of 60! On arrival at the place of examination I was told to report to a certain room for a conversation test in German. I knocked. at the door and in answer to a "Kommen sie herein" I opened the door and tripped over the mat and nearly knocked over a chair. I pulled myself together and apologised with "I beg your pardon, sir," only to be answered in English, " What, you again?" There, if you please, was the man of the breakfast table, and now my examiner. Apparently he bore me no ill will, because although 2 failed in the examination as a whole I did pass in German.-(" Just Coincidences." by Major F. H. Lampen, 2YA, May 29.)
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 103, 13 June 1941, Page 5
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270"What, You Again?" New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 103, 13 June 1941, Page 5
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