Is that Le or La?

If you smile at me, I will understand.  'Cause that is something everybody, everywhere does in the same language.               Wooden Ships, by David Crosby, Paul Kantner & Stephen Stills

 

I love the opening line to this CSN song and I have thought of it several times recently while hosting international guests at the Heritage House B&B.  Gary has retained a bit of Spanish, having taken several years of the subject in the New York school system.  Plus, he reminds me, he is also somewhat fluent in Pig Latin!  I, on the other hand, have retained minimal & rudimentary high school French.  Pourriez-vous pour un peu de crème avec le café?  (or is it la café?) 

So, when hosting guests with whom English is a second language, we all rely on smiles and hand gestures . . . because that is something everybody, everywhere does in the same language.