Since they both grew up in Europe, speaking English was exotic and new.
What I found they had in common was a fascination with American idioms.
Their word choices were often awkward or odd. The Polish engineer was astonished at
the phrase “where were you when the shit hit the fan?” I explained to the
Czech graphic designer that I wrote a story about this for The Village Voice.
She exclaimed in response “What pluck!”

by – Doug Mathewson