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October 27, 2008 |
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Please Call Danny
FOUND by Kristen
in Fresno, California
My dad bought a speed boat a few years ago (we believe it was a midlife crisis thing), and it's been parked out in front of our house since the last time we used it. This morning he found this note on the boat.
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
Seal? At first, I thought the boat was leaky, then I thought, maybe steal? New low in poor spelling. It isn't even phonetic for sell.
@ man: Thank you for your post. I scratched my head for a good minute before I opened up the comments. I think you're right- Danny wants to buy the boat. It's the only thing that makes sense- to me, anyway. I've never owned a boat but I've known a few people who have, and I've never heard anyone say they needed to seal their boat. Anyone?... Anyone?
It looks like either Kristen (the submitter) or the Found web folks cut off the bottom of the note with the phone number to protect the ignorant. I mean innocent.
So, he can't spell 'sell' correctly, but manages 'vehicle'? Also, I wonder why he chose 'vehicle' rather than 'boat'. I suppose a boat is in fact a vehicle, but I've never heard it referred to as such.
it is pretty odd.
the writer could spell "please" & "vehicle" correct (not to mention have decent handwriting), but still horribly misspell a simple word like sell
it looks like a womans handwriting to me. and I can't help but think "seal" instead of "sell" was meant as a joke. Seal-water animal, boat-water craft, a bad joke but still...
But does the finders father know someone named Danny, or was there a number written on the note?
Maybe Danny caulks boats for a living and thinks this one needs it. But surely a modern fibreglass boat doesn't need caulking?
I think Danny is Hispanic
If
like
seal deal
boat...
call
Unfrozven Caveman Boater.
General about found functionality...
Logging in -
I've the html in the upper right hand screen
never worked for me - nor does the generic login by the spam control work. Just sits there - or does not sign me in.
I have to go to www.foundmagazine.com/login to get logged in.
Initially I had to keep going back to my registration email to get on.
Navigation buttons (arrows)-
The left and right arrows on the daily finds work funky - they 'sometimes' don't flow chronologically.
But then I imagine this is just me...anyhoo.
Sometimes, I think, the vocabulary and grammar that looks 'harder' to a native speaker turns out to be 'easier' to the perosn learning it as a second language.
Something like "vehicle" appears more complicated than "sell" but it really isn't because it's more stable. "Vehicle" pretty much remains in that form; although as Jerin pointed out it isn't used here very colloquially.
But "sell" shows up as sell, sale, sold ... how do you know what form to use when? Just grab for one, and if it comes out "seal," well maybe it's close enough.
I don't get the whole "leave a note on a person's vehicle" thing...I have had several notes left on my car from people wanting to buy it...and people, I drive a '91 Honda for cryin' out loud!!
Even for an English learner, confusing seal and sell...dunno. Seems like a no-brainer. I'm with Baby Basil on this one.
I thought that they meant steal the vehicle. Tho that didnt make sense. why would you say vehicle instead of boat? i dunno. not a native english speaker
danny is a charter captain and is offering to take the finder's dad on an outing. if you want to sail the vehicle, please call danny.
of course, do you want to go on a boat trip with someone who thinks a speedboat can be sailed?
Danny didn't leave a phone number. What up?
Oh! Chai! I love it!!
I had something else to say, then Captain Ahab distracted me.
I have this intense chai tea blend, with black tea, black pepper and ginger (along with the usual cinnamon, cardamom, etc.). Brew it with milk & water & sugar - oh my. Off to do that now. Then I might remember what I was going to say.
I think the writer meant "If you like to sea otter this vehicle..."
...or was it manatee this vehicle?
How about "see al this vehicle"?
@Curious--That tea sounds yummy! Does it have a brand name?
Maybe Danny is a pirate looking for a ship to take to sea. Pirates, having a notoriously poor system for grammar schooling (except when dealing with arithmetic, counting currency in pieces of eight rather than ten, and so on), aren't all that particular when it comes to spelling. (or is that "spealling"??)
Arrrgh!
This is how this it's pronounced:
"If you like to seh-el this vee-hickle please call Danny."
The person lives in California now, but grew up somewhere down south. Or maybe it's ebonics.
did they call danny to seal the deal to steal???
it does look like there was a number cut off on the bottom there.... i would have called danny and asked about the letter... hmmmm...i wish the finder could tell us!
READ can be pronounced both "reed" and "red". I imagine Danny thought the word seal could be treated the same way.
My Chai includes fresh roasted (then muddled) ginger root and cayenne pepper, too. the damn stuff takes half an hour to make, but it's goooood.
At first read, all I have going through my head now are Seal songs:
I've been kissed by a rose
I've been kissed by a rose on the grave,
...And if I should fall along the way
I've been kissed by a rose
...been kissed by a rose on the grave.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
Daryl Hall is singing the national anthem at the World Series tonight?
I hope he seals the deal.
You mean there's more than one Seal song?
Daryl Hall is still alive?
You actually do seal boats. You can shrinkwrap them in the off season and you also seal the bottom of the boat to protect it (pretty much on a yearly basis).
I think the note writer spelled seal wrong on porpoise.
Seal gets to bang Heidi Klum.
@Captain,
How, exactly, does one 'muddle' some ginger?
What do a walrus and tupperware have in common?
They both prefer a tight seal...
I, however, am not the Walrus. I am the Eggman.
@Flargy...
No, that's the only one.
Cara. Roast it in your toaster oven (turning once), then "muddle" it with mortar and pestle. works for me. (although perhaps "muddle" is a proprietary term that only bartenders get to use when they're muddling limes?)
Perhaps he just wants to "undercoat" the car.
Oldest scam in the book.
I read this as "steal" but "sell" makes more sense.
Hiplainsdrifter, that was a funny yolk. Goo goo g'joob.
Fresno. My alma mater
Seal can either be steal, sell, or sail...
I get it from a tea shop here:
http://store.tearex.com/2260.html I'm not sure if this is it, because it seems like it's called spicy chai, and it has more pepper in it - you can call 'em, I'm sure! Or, if you're ever in Charlotte, give me a shout, and we'll have tea!
Boats can be "sealed" for the winter with a heat-shrink type material that makes a form fitting cover. My guess is that Danny has a business that seals boats for storage.
Here's my guess as to the use of the word vehicle:
Danny is Hispanic. He's taking ESL classes where they do exercises of grouping words by classification (foods, animals, weather, vehicles).
Danny can't quite remember what the English word for "barca" is, but he remembers that it was in the "vehiculos" category. So he makes the fairly simple conversion from "vehiculo" to "vehicle" instead of the more specific, but elusive, "boat."
Whether he wants to seal the boat (he runs a marine business) or buy it can probably only be answered by calling him, but I would assume it is not a misspelling and he is offering his services to seal the boat for winter. (To help pay for his night classes?) Admittedly, I like this answer best because it's consistent with his properly-spelled rearranging of "vehiculo" into "vehicle."