Check out this exchange:
A Facebook wall post to someone I met a long time ago and ran into again at a wedding, but forgot that we met a while back:
good to see you again at chin and grace's. sorry about our initial encounter - i have bad memories =)
The person writes back:
haha, no worries. I can just imagine how confused you were at the bar... with these pushy girls butting in line! open bar is a scary thing... :)
I smile and start writing back, because I didn't mind the bridesmaids who were behind me getting their drinks before me after a long day. And then I notice that I previously wrote, "I have bad memories [about our initial encounter]"...which makes it sound like we tried to kill each other the first time we met. So I clarify:
i had no problem with the bridesmaids going first. also, "i have a bad memory"...i realized using plural there gives it a totally different meaning.
As I am laughing at myself for confusing "memories" vs. "memory" (another web gem moment for yours truly), a realization hits me--this person thinks I forgot who she was at the wedding because I was mad at the bridesmaids for going before me, ergo "bad memories"! Which is totally not true! And I don't think my clarification was very...well, clear.
If I try to clarify this, this person will think I didn't pass my ESL class.
If you don't understand the story I'm describing above, welcome to the crowd...of my friends.
Ah, English! Ah, humanity!
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