Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Pronto? Hello! Pronto?...

When our phone rings, there is a good chance that it is a wrong number. Well, this morning the phone rang and I jumped up to see if it was a "real" phone call or a peddler (as Mike's Daddy likes to call them) or perhaps just a wrong number. So gamely I answered the phone "Hello" and immediately they responded "Pronto?"  I repeated "Hello" and they repeated "Pronto" and this happened yet one more time. I guess I really wanted to ask them "What part of Hello did you not understand, the "Hell" or the "O!"  Maybe they were just hoping that I'd miraculously turn into the person they were trying to call by magically uttering the word "Pronto" again and again. Alas, that wasn't to be. They muttered something else at me and then hung up! Ah, the joys of living in a small town in Italy and being American! I could have replied "Si!" but then I would have been deluged with probably too many words rapidly fired at me in Italian and then I would have hung up!

This was definitely more amusing than the telephone calls from the peddlers when they are trying to sell us some sort of wonderful plan for our phone, internet, electric (which we don't personally pay), etc. Some actually speak a little English and yet others are just recorded messages which I really, really do not like. I'm pretty sure they don't have a "Do Not Call" list here in Italy!

Pronto? I always thought that just meant fast... But then, again, "piano" has way more meanings than a musical instrument or a dynamics marking in music. I'll save that for another day... Ciao!

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