quicko: what i learned on late night

I'm savoring my last few nights with Jay Leno before reentering the land of no-late-night-but-Letterman. And tonight Jay brought up something really important.

It was all in the Headlines section. It seems he found an ad requesting someone who could "read and write Australian." I didn't find it particularly funny, though. Not because it's not a humorous little foible, but because I've heard it before. In fact, I hear it every time I tell an inquisitive American that I teach English as a Second Language -- "ho ho, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they speak English there, too, ha ha?"

Oh yes, hysterical. The first twenty times.

But then I kept watching past Jay's show to the next one I don't really like but stuck with because I was bored and Daniel Radcliffe was supposed to be on -- and discovered something even more linguistically scintillating.

Ever since I've been in Australia, I've been picking up endless quirks of language that fascinate me immensely, but rarely figure out when I'm saying something that they just never would, unless it's something profoundly American, like pleading the Fifth or Jolly Ranchers. But finally, tonight, on that other show, Daniel Radcliffe (I knew there was a good reason to watch him, besides the fact he also laments most British children use "like" to excess, as he said, when it's not in a similie!) exposed an American-ism: "yeah, I know."

Beautiful, isn't it? I was so touched he thought to share something so profound.