Mysterious plate. Anyone please tell me the story of the pattern? Thanks.

With a search term like silver platter or charger you might avoid silver plated items.

 

Thank you. Is it silver plated? I thought it is 835 silver

 

AJ meant that if you continue to search the Internet to learn more or find another like it, you may have more success if you use the words 'platter' or 'charger' instead of 'plate' because if you search using 'silver plate' you will also get many results for things that are silver plated, which you do not want.

 

Oh, I see. Thank you for your explanation.

 

Thank you Bronwen, that is the way I should have said it.

 

I sometimes say I do English to English translation.

 

Would you like to add your name to the translator thread?

 

Think my hardest case was when I just happened to be on the scene when a customer for whom English was not his first language was trying to order something from a coffee shop counter man who was also not a native speaker. Poor guy kept repeating himself, going more slowly & more carefully with each frustrated repetition. I did not get it at first either, then it hit me that the 3 words he was enunciating so carefully, with such a staccato delivery, were actually 'cottage cheese'. Relief all round.

 

When he got home, he probably told his family "that stupid foreigner in the shop doesn't even understand English. Luckily there was this very nice American lady...."

 

To completely hijack this thread, another proud moment came when I was waiting in a growing line at a pharmacy counter, where people were beginning to grumble. You can imagine how it went over when a young man, with a sense of urgency, went up to the clerk, interrupting the customer there, to ask, in a European accent, where the 'family planning' section was. The perplexed young woman launched into a whole disquisition on how it depended on what he wanted, if it was birth control pills... I finally directed his attention to the shelves right below the counter. He thanked me in relief, selected a box & went to another check out to pay for his condoms.

When I left, I found myself walking not far behind him & the young woman who had waited a discreet distance away in the store. I could overhear just enough to catch his answer to her question: No, one of the customers.

 

Yep. I worked retail for a few years, centuries ago. You can pull the girl out of retail, but you can't pull the retail out of the girl. I'm forever rescuing the lost in supermarkets, including many for whom English is a first language.(LOL) One woman did come in with a Stollen recipe written in Portuguese. I figured it out, since I make the stuff annually and read enough French and Spanish to cross-reference.

 

I have the same with the catering industry. I managed our faculty bar, a theatre bar, and a restaurant. All for short periods, but with a Pavlov result. When I go out I am forever checking if tables need to be cleared, people want to order, etc.

 

You're probably pickier about restaurant cleanliness than the average too.

 

I am. In the restaurant I also worked the pass, so I was scrupulous about how dishes went out.
At least with the smoking ban I don't have to check the ashtrays anymore.

 

In China, we call that situation: "A chicken is talking to a duck."

 

I love this and intend to use it.

 

Even for close speaking allies, the English versus English issue can be a problem. The first time I ordered a drink in a bar in America was a Scotch and OOISE, at least that's what the barman thought. He had no idea what OOISE (in a broad Australian accent) was. After repeating myself many times and with much laughter from bar patrons and staff, what I really wanted was a Bourbon on the Rocks! I have always pronounced ICE much more clearly from that day.

 

Maybe you should stick to using 'rocks' when you can. Or really confuse people by saying things like: Careful! Don't slip on the rocks!

 

Sometimes there is a gem of a discussion hidden in a thread ...

 

I can certainly pronounce 'ice,' but when I first went to England, the Brits condescendingly asked me to repeat, then gave me ONE cube (with either a sneer or a snarl). And Scotch was whisky. Is it bourbon in Australia?

I'm confused...