Quote from: ELW on February 16, 2013, 11:41 PM..failing that, he could just ask the guy next time he's in
Yes, he could. But if the guy is a native Bengali speaker, the dialogue could well go like this:
Emin-J : "Excuse me, are your onion bhajis made of onions and spices fried in batter ?"
Bengali guy : "Yes sir".
Emin-J : "OK, thank you. And could I ask : do you fry them in butter ?"
Bengali guy : "Yes sir, I just said that -- onions and spices fried in batter".
Emin-J. "Ah ..."
Because, unless the Bengali guy has a particularly sensitive ear, or is 2nd-generation and therefore has English as his first language, he may simply be unable to hear the difference between "batter" and "butter", just as I cannot hear the difference between (say) "d?ngx?" and "d?ngxi" in Mandarin Chinese.
** Phil.