Misinterpreting the Word “Banjo”
Heroes Remember
Misinterpreting the Word “Banjo”
Prison camp ..., I was taken there, sent into work on
the foundries, and the foundry was where they used to put the
iron, they call that pig iron in English. They put it in big
furnaces there, they take it out and a big trolley overhead, it
goes back and forth to go from the furnace to the press where
they press the iron. There was a long pole about maybe 15-16
feet long and a cup like at the end of that and we’d go and
shove it on that piece of pig iron that’s in the furnace and
they’d back it out. Then we’d turn that and the trolley would
bring it to the press there and we’d get there, had little rakes
there, iron handles, rakes - iron, and when they’d come down
with press on the iron, it would all turn up just like
cornflakes. We’d have to take that off as quick as you could.
Sometimes you’d back up ... “C’mon, work, work.” One
day a fellow come to me, he says, supposed to be the
interpreter, he says, “You go on the wash, on the banjo.”
“Banjo, I can’t play the banjo.” You know what the banjo is,
right? I thought it was an instrument. So, anyway, called two
guards, beats me up. Well, a little foremen comes from behind
the furnace. He says, “Ahh, you make fun of ...” I
says, “Me, no.” He says, “Yes, you say you can’t play banjo.”
So he had his book here in his pocket and his pen. And I said,
“Give me a piece of paper.” So, anyway, he gives me a piece of
paper and I draw the banjo. “Ahh, that’s not banjo, banjo means
go pull down your pants and go . . .” I felt like hitting him
but still I . . . oh my God, a few days after a fellow comes,
the interpreter, he says, “Me sorry, you not understand.”
I says, “Too late now.”
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