- ``Who?''
``________.''
``Um...''
``________.''
``I'm sorry, I don't understand....''
``Do you know who is Ghengi Khan?''
Wait. Did she really just say Ghengis Khan? I steal a glance at my t-shirt: am I obliviously wearing a picture of a rapacious Mongol? No, no I'm not. I ask, ``Um.... you mean the Mongolian conqueror?'' Even as I say it, I really can't believe that's right. Or maybe she's talking about a band or something.
``Yes, yes!''
``Yup, I've... heard of him...'' I'm really confused now.
She says, ``those guys didn't know him,'' pointing at a pair of older asian fellows sitting at a table having lunch who seem to be totally ignoring us.
I nod knowingly. I'm dying to know how this came up, but I'd already waited too long to eat, and my world had gone all surreal even before Ghengis came into it, so I just let it go.
I am known in every sandwich shop, for the Conqueror loves a good egg salad on wheat bread.
that's the weirdest pickup line I've ever heard.
why am I having some bizare memory of a movie about Ghengis Khan or was it Attila the Hun - where someone ridiculous like John Wayne played the title character?
You are correct, sir. John Wayne (and many other members of the crew) died of cancer because The Conqueror was filmed on the Yucca Flats, downwind of a nuclear blast site: "out of 220 people in the cast and crew, ninety-one had contracted cancer by late 1980." More here.
so the real right answer is "yeah I know who John Wayne is"
from the credits:
Richard Loo .... Captain of Wang's guard
Gabe and Tycho would love that.
hence my user icon :)
Well, maybe the lady just likes to serve sandwiches to people who know a little something about history.
Or maybe he came up in a class she was taking, or someone mentioned him to her...
... it is rather strange/amusing, though. ;)
I think I know how she feels, maybe. I ran into some Russian teenagers the other day, and they didn't really know who Lenin was. It felt very weird.
I'm always fascinated by the historical cluelessness of the average person. If that had happened to me, I would have stopped to chat to the sandwich making woman, and then spent my whole afternoon asking everyone I met whether they knew who GK was.
K.
My bet is she was making a comment on how incredible it was that youth today can be so ignorant to such an important part of history. The language gap can be a real pain, sometimes you have to look past the words and study the intentions.
Maybe they just saw Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
-FC