Ooops.

On the way to work this morning, filtering through the traffic, as one
does. I was held up by a bloke on a Beemer who wouldn't go through a
gap.

"Come on, you could get a fucking tank through there" I exclaimed
loudly.

Eventually he gets through. At the next set of traffic lights, he says
in a perfect English accent, "Sorry, I've only been living in Paris
for a couple of weeks and got the bike on Saturday".

Ooops.

At least he apologised.

 

Pah, amateur, I shouted the same thing to a car on a bridge in the
Pyrenees in 2001.

It had German plates on it

 

As I'm sure you already realise, you can't assume people don't understand
English no matter where you are. (I think I finally learned this in San
Francisco, where they're less inhibited about joining in the
conversations of strangers than in most places.)

I'd recommend Welsh or Yoruba, except that an ex-gf of mine was caught
out when the subject of her conversation turned out to understand Yoruba.
This happened in Oxford.

 

I tend to swear in English as I find it more expressive (as my work
colleagues will testify when I'm swearing at my PC) but as pointed out
by Jeremy below I sometimes forget that people (more and more, IME)
understand English. Especially the "special" phrases.

 

My Maltese cousins do, even when talking in Maltese to each other.
They'll be jabbering away in Spic, then all of a sudden the word
'wanker' or 'fucking' will appear in the conversation.

 

To which, I hope, you responded "fucking gaylord."

 

Heh, no, I was a bit surprised at being replied to in English to
react.