Our last night in the Smokies we spent in Townsend, TN. It is a vacation spot I highly recommend.
It is a small, quiet town in a wondrous setting, the antithesis of Gatlinburg. They have a fantastic little music store there (Wood-N-Strings) where we spent a good while playing various very beautiful and well-made dulcimers, guitars, fiddles and a "banjammer" - half dulcimer/half banjo. There are also opportunities to rent tubes, kayaks and various water transports to take out on the pleasant river that rambles alongside the town at a fun clip.
We ate out at a restaurant after we settled in at the hotel and the food was fine. After dinner, I made my way upstairs to the bathroom. As I was getting ready to enter, an older gentleman walked out, looked up to me and grunted in a hard-to-decipher voice, "Fullacrap. Be careful."
I paused in my response, not sure what the right answer to this comment would be. After a long second or two, I nodded and slowly said, "Thanks," not knowing what else to say.
As he walked on, I wondered how badly I needed to avail myself of the room, but decided to go on in.
After getting in and surveying my surroundings carefully, it finally occurred to me what the fella was saying - "Floor's wet. Be careful," not "fullacrap..."
Well, that made more sense.
Using questionable judgement, I related this story to my family when I got back to our dining table. We laughed and laughed - the kids especially. And Sarah kept having me repeat what I thought he said, "Say it again, Dad. Say it again." (And again home the next day. And several times since.)
I just hope I wasn't rude to the gentleman.
Things aren't always as they seem.
1 comment:
This northern boy and his family once traveled to Alabama. I was a little kid. My mom ordered some milk for me in a cafeteria and the lady behind the counter says "Why?"
??
My mom repeated her request a few times I think before realizing that the woman was saying "White?"
Anyway, good little story. I know what you mean about hoping you weren't rude to the man... So often little encounters like that happen so fast that I try to be polite rather than looking dumb or asking "what" and then only later do I realize that doing so would have been more polite than basically nodding and smiling.
Sounds like a story that kids could love.
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