For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 21, 2013

Okay, that conversation made no sense.

Edited 3rd panel for clarity:

I go [to] every yard sale in [the] city – and I give you 6 out of 10 for this one.

The lady is miffed there aren’t chips and lemonade. That would surely have rated a 10.

The conversation made complete sense if you happen to live in a community with a higher level of citizens who have immigrated to Canada (in this case) or to the US and you’ve developed an ear for their vocabulary. Our country is a mixed bag of languages and customs which makes Canada an interesting place to live. We’re not all either English or French as one particular province would have you think. (I come from Quebec but am English)

Not all French are rude and hostile…in Paris or Montreal…people are people, every group has nice ones and jerks. If you act like a jerk, you will be treated like one.

Who the heck offers refreshments at a yard sale? I’ve never even heard of that before!

In hot weather, we had cold bottles of water for 50 cents. Tidy profit, but cheap enough for most anyone. Kept them shopping in the heat!

One year our neighbors had a big yard sale. My 8 yr old decided to set up a lemonade stand. It was so hot she made over $70 selling lemonade for 25 cents a cup to the shoppers. After the ingredients were paid for she still had over $60 what a haul for such a little kid. She was thrilled

A few years back, I met a couple at a ’Fur Trade Rendevous in Northern Minnesota. They had made to trip to the United States from France j ust for that event. They were quite nice and were received with great enthusiasm by the participants

As I mentioned yesterday about our annual yard sale, some people did offer refreshments for sale. One guy cooked hot dogs and buns for a dollar each, a bag of chips for a quarter. Others sold canned soda and bottled water for 25 or fifty cents a can/bottle. Maybe the group missed a good opportunity. Her dialect sounds sort of Russian to me.

If she wants free refreshments, she can forget it. Only tap water in little dixie cups for free lol. But having a table with refreshments for sale isn’t a bad idea. How about baked goods?

I used to live near an area where they staged an annual community tag sale. Several whole streets were set up, and there were plenty of refreshments, including a hot dog cart.The result was a huge turnout.

Gosh, howthe, you must be pretty delicate to think that’s an “offensive cultural joke.”

Thank you to all for the explanations! I was fine with figuring out what she said, but refreshments at a yard sale? And then using that as an excuse for paying less? Ooookayyy… :-/

I don’t know, but I found it insulting. Nice stereotyping here…the first thing I thought of was immigrants = poor and depending on yard sales.I could read it, and “dis von” sure doesn’t seem like a French or French Canadian accent to me!

larry, a lot of yard sales have refreshments! esp. if the yard sale is being put on by a group like the library or a church. extra income from drink & snack sale

My take was Yiddish . . . some of my in-laws were models of this.

I took it as Russian or in that vicinity. I doubt if this one is considered “politically correct” in today’s market. It has a bit of a cringe factor when reading it.

My husband and I are thinking about moving to another state within the next 5 years or so and when we do, I’ll have to remember to sell refreshments at our final yard sale. Maybe by doing that, it will encourage people to stay longer and buy more of our useless junk that we really don’t want to move with us when we go!!!!! ;-)

When I moved to Vancouver, I was determined to learn the local accent – not so much to lose mine, but for concealment. There wasn’t one – more like twenty.

To that lady, picky, picky, picky!