DEAR ABBY: The letter you printed from Mary Pryor, describing her stolen purse experience in France, reminded me of the experience an acquaintance of mine had during his visit to Bogota, Colombia.
He chased a thief who had stolen his billfold, yelling -- in his best tour-book Spanish -- what he thought was, "Stop him! I've been robbed!" A policeman finally stopped the culprit, retrieved the billfold and told my American friend that what he actually had been shouting was, "Stop him! I'm a robber! I'm a robber!" -- DON STONE, SIOUX CITY, IOWA
DEAR DON: I suppose your letter illustrates that it's better to speak fractured Spanish than no Spanish at all. You aren't the only reader I heard from after printing Mary Pryor's letter. Read on:
DEAR ABBY: After reading the letter about the woman whose purse was stolen in the Champs de Mars park in Paris, I had to write. You ended your response to her by saying, "Vive la France! And vive les tourists Americain!"
Well, Abby, as long as you throw around French phrases, you might go to the trouble of getting it right:
Vive la France et vive les touristes americains!
We are always first in line to ridicule the fractured English we see or read in foreign countries. Shame on you. -- ERNESTINE BLOOMBERG, TIGARD, ORE.
DEAR ERNESTINE: Excusez mes fautes d'orthographe et de grammaire. I don't speak French, but thank heavens I have friends who do!
Thanks for pointing out the errors.