I think I would have been proud to be able to use all the right words to
describe things that specifically apply to residents of a country that
was not mine. I knew Spanish when I went to Panama but after being there
22 years, I spoke Spanish well but still as a foreigner in matters of word
choices, description of local phenomena, etc. Not that there was any problem
being understood, but I could never pass as a Panamanian. (I might have been
able to pass as a Spanish speaker from some other country, though, as long
as the listener was not from that country.) At least by your writing, you
COULD pass as a Gringo! Since I haven't heard you speak, I'll have to
reserve judgement on that. I know people from other states, however, that
I would have guessed were not originally from the USA. North Dakota comes
to mind - Norwegians in particular. I can also remember being in places in
central Texas (880 miles across Texas either east-west or north-south) where
one could get by well in German, Polish, Czech or Spanish but NOT English.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma