My friends Kara and Jimmy, and I were walking down a neighborhood near Miller Ave and Bollinger Road in Cupertino, heading to Lynbrook High School last Friday on August 27th. We were going to Lynbrook High School to visit and meet Jimmy's girlfriend, Jenny. Kara and I had no clue how to get to Lynbrook High School, whereas Jimmy was a pro at getting to the school; so we had to stay close to him. Jimmy was not very good at waiting for us to catch up with him. He was way too excited to meet up with his girlfriend that he left Kara and I behind. When Kara and I could no longer see Jimmy down the block, I called him on my cell phone.
When Jimmy answered his phone, I immediately asked him,"Which street did you turn on? We don't know how to get to Lynbrook without you."
Jimmy vaguely replied, "I turned between two trees."
I paused for at least 3 seconds before replying back to him because I was in awe with what I heard. "Between two trees," really? There were trees everywhere around Kara and I. We could not decipher the "two trees" he was speaking of.
Still very confused, I asked him to clarify his directions by getting more in depth than just stating that he turned between two trees. I notified him which intersection Kara and I were on so he had an idea of our location. He understood that he was not clear with his directions and became more specific by telling us to walk another block down from where we were and to turn left at the end of that block.
We finally got to Lynbrook safely and did not have to worry about receiving vague directions form Jimmy any longer.
Hi Vy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading this post, it actually reminds me of my first day as a freshmen at SJSU. On the first day of school I had to ask for direction for certain places and most of time I get vague responds. One of the vague responds, for example was, "That big building", which was didn't help me out much. There are several big building around SJSU so it's really hard to point out the one that person was talking about. Anyways, I like your post because it was well described in details. I also had several experienced with similar vague directions as well. Like your friend, Jimmy, I still give out vague direction sometimes when I don't know the place or can't describe it. I guess that some people that use vague sentences are the same as me or they're not being clear enough.
-Phat