yes? no?

language barriers can surely be frustrating...but i try to be amused by them as often as possible : )

one great one in the conflict between english and czech language is the word "yes". in czech, yes is "ano". sometimes though, people choose to not use the "a". it's true..."no" now means "yes". this past week at camp, i taught a beginner level english class, so this became really interesting as sometimes they would answer in english, sometimes in czech. a few times, one girl would get nervous [understandably] if i asked her a question without a translator around. i would ask something like, "did you like the food?" she would answer "no." i would usually just smile and nod, not really knowing which answer she was really giving. sometimes though,  she would correct herself... "did you like the food?" "no...no, uh... yes? yes." [cue the nervous hand gestures and dash to the other side of the room]. i love it and totally understand [for example, every time i forget to put a price sticker on my apples at the supermarket and then panic  when they say something to me at the register--cue majorly nervous hand gestures and a dash to the other side of the store].