No Handies in America

My brother and sister bought me an MP3 player for Christmas, and I'm working on downloading my 100 free songs that came with it. I think I'm going to try to find some of the songs that I would hear on the bus in Luxembourg. I would never buy the CD for some of these people. But I'm thinking that I would like to have a copy of my theme song from Luxembourg --- "So You Had a Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.

I always assumed that I could be the last person in America to own an MP3 player or a cell phone. (And no, dearest brother and sister, this isn't a plea for you to buy me a cell phone.) It's amazing to me how many web sites and businesses and friends want my cell phone number. They look at you like you've just spit on them when you say you don't have a cell phone.

In Luxembourg, no one understands the phrase "cell phone." To most of the people in Luxembourg, they are "mobiles" or "mobile phones." Except the British. They will understand when you say "mobile," but the term they prefer is "handie." It took me a while to catch onto this phrase. I wasn't sure how to respond the first time I heard, "Well don't you have your handie on you?" I gradually got used to this term, and when we got back to the States, I had to be careful to not to say something like, "Did you remember to turn off the handie?"

I overheard some of the British ladies talking about my lack of a handie after church one day when we were still in Luxembourg. The one lady was feeling very sorry for me that I didn't have one. Her companion said, "Apparently, they don't really believe in handies in America." So somewhere in Luxembourg there is a group of British ladies who think that the only Americans who use mobile phones are in the movies --- that "real" Americans don't have mobile phones.

It's always amazing to me what a little bit of cultural exchange can do to clear up misconceptions of foreign cultures. :-)

ttfn