Ps & Qs

Today

Now that Richard is about to become a family member, I've taken to calling him "My Boy" or sometimes, in recognition of his penchant for Spanish, "Mi Chico". Yesterday morning I asked how to say "would you like some more coffee?" in Spanish. He told me. Becky explained, "Literally it means "do you want to take more coffee"".

"Does Spanish have a polite form of "want"? I asked. "as in "would like", "vorrei" or "voudrais" in other European languages?" "Not really," said Richard "I find that I have to be more sort of gruff when I'm in Spain".

This reminded me of a little story which I then told them.

In My Day

It must have been in about 1975. We were living at Rowan Avenue in Eastbourne and David & Joan had come to visit with Matthew, aged two and a half and Isabella, aged one. Because we had three small children in the house I fixed a safety gate half-way along the landing.

This action separated the guest room from the bathroom. At about three in the morning I was awakened by a loud wail from Matthew. I got up, as did Joan, to find him standing at the gate saying loudly "I would like to go to the loo, I would like to go to the loo!" We sorted Matthew out and went back to bed.

In the morning, when the incident was discussed over breakfast, Joan was immensely proud that her two-year old, in a moment of crisis in a strange house, had remembered his manners by saying "I would like", rather than "I want"! This was seen as more of an achievement than the fact that he hadn't wet himself or the bed. She talked about this with a combination of amusement and pride for some time to come.

I, however, can't now remember how to offer someone another cup of coffee in Spanish, whether rudely or not.