[nagdu] Be careful when someone says "you can"--lol

Kaye Kipp kkipp123 at gmail.com
Mon Aug 3 22:35:35 UTC 2015


Wow.  That's interesting.  How many times would that happen?

Kaye

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Weiner via
nagdu
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 6:34 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Dan Weiner
Subject: [nagdu] Be careful when someone says "you can"--lol

Stargazer's statement about her husband saying "you can" reminded me of an
incident in which the meaning of that word was indeed (it's possible" rather
than (You should"--lol.
In 1995 I went to Russia with my first dog for a grad course in Russian
English interpreting, I was there  several  months And just in case you're
interested, . at least at that time Russia was terrible in terms of access
for guide dog users and so on.
I was in Moscow.
At any rate, at that time I was a relatively new guide dog user and full of
piss and vinegar and wanted to go out and explore, second or third day there
I thought I should try crossing the highway  near the dorm Konsomolski
Prospekt.
Yes, a lot of traffic but I thought, "how nice it would be to see if I can
cross it and go to the other side. Why did Dan (or the chicken) cross the
Konsomolsky Prospekt?--lol because  he wanted to get to the other side .
Anyway, let's see if I remember...out the dormitory door, down steps, over a
sort of open concrete area, over grass and then a sidewalk. All right, I
asked someone where the corner was. He walked with me, then I said "can I
cross here"  in Russian of course.
He said "yes you can, but...". Well it sounded to me like there were no cars
so I intoned those famous words, "Grant, forward". Grant of course was my
hound at that time.

Now the guy came running after me and met me on the other side.  He said "I
meant it is possible to cross there, but people don't do it, there are seven
lanes of traffic... We have an underpass, someone should show you where the
pedestrian underpass is.".
So you can there meant "it's possible" but not, "you should.".

Now there is an addendum to this story (weren't you afraid of that--smile ).
In 1997 I was in Monterey, California. I was walking when all of the sudden
a guy comes up to me and says in a very thick accent "hey, I remember you
from crossing street".
"What," Dan thinks, "excuse me, Sir." I said.
"yes, you wer crossing street, I remember, very danger, two years ago."
I still am thinking what is he talking about and thought that maybe this was
a deranged person who just happened to think he'd play some game with a
blind person, maybe someone off their meds.

"Yes," he continued" but you had black dog then, not yellow".
Well, my  god, this guy must be legit since Grant was black and my Evan I
had in 1997 was yellow.
He explained "You say to me, can I cross street, and I say can, but before I
finish you start walking like tank. I came after you to make sure I could
wave to cars so no one runs blind person over, I am Christian."

Yes, indeed, his name was roman and he was  a political science professor at
the University where I was studying for   that time in Moscow and e was in
California for a conference. That was indeed a coincidence. But the story
does indeed go to illustrate that the phrase "you can" may have different
meaning depending on the person.
I hope you found my book-length manuscript amusing.

Enjoy the day.

Dan and the Parker Hound

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Star Gazer via
nagdu
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 8:33 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Star Gazer
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Walking in new territory

				Lori,
Your fiance sounds like my husband. When he says "You can..." I've learned
to respond with "Would you?" If he hesitates then I say "That's what I need
to know". What I've found is that lots of things are good ideas until an
individual has to do them. 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christina Moore
via nagdu
Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2015 10:50 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Christina Moore <christina.moore16 at houghton.edu>
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Walking in new territory

If Rick said he would not do the crossing himself and he is sighted than I
believe that you should probably not do it either. You can call out a
trainer but they may tell you the same thing.

--Christina

> On Aug 2, 2015, at 22:36, Kaye Kipp via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Oh

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