I’ve noticed something in my own speech patterns that seems to confuse the hell out of most people I talk to. Instead of asking someone, “Do you like” or “What did you think of,” I will say, “How do you like,” and “How did you find…?”
Example: Cameron, a 19-year-old biology student, has his PSP on his desk. I ask him, “how do you like your PSP?” He’s confused. I repeat the question, and he’s still baffled. That seemed strange to me, but when I asked, “Do you like it?” he understood.
That confusion happens less frequently than when I asked someone, “how did you find” whatever we’re talking about.
Example: Holly, an RN at Sparrow, has “RN, BSN” on her name tag. I asked her where she earned her BSN and learned it was through MSU. “How did you find the program,” I asked, meaning “was it good, did you like it, was it difficult” all sort of rolled into one. She seemed to think I was asking her, “how did you physically locate the program?”
I rephrased.
“Did you like it?” was too generic – I was less interested in how much she liked it than in what she thought of it overall. I suppose I could have just asked her that – “What did you think of it?”
What confuses me, though, is where I picked this up. Was it at the ranch, surrounded by native Spanish speakers and learning Spanish? Is it through my British friends or through watching Brit TV?