Maeve my three year old daughter must be beginning to understand that all people are not the same (colour, language etc). I have a habit – good or bad – of trying to say hello and goodbye in the language of the person I am talking to. Maeve must have pickup up on this and the reason I know this is we were shopping in the Marks-and-Spencers in the IFSC in Dublin and after we filled the basket we approached the tills to pay for the goods. The young woman behind the till (who looked of indian origin) beckoned us over with a smile and a simple English “hello”; As we approached the till Maeve said “Namaste” (which means greetings and goodbye depending on the context) and both I and the lady did a double-take of surprise – the lady quickly recovered with a slight bow and “Namaste” in reply.

I was surprised to say the least. I use “Namaste” often when I interact with Indians since I picked up the phrase when my wife and I were on Holiday in Nepal and India a number of years ago. Maeve has heard me use it a number of times when talking to Indians – say in an Indian takeaway; What Maeve did all on her own is work out the link between the word and the apparent ethnic look of the person she is talking too. Clever girl.

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