𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔! 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑭𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓!

Barry Lewis! Barry Fisher!

The other day I had to send a message to my friend in Armenia. Since it was late in the evening here in the US, and already past bedtime in Yerevan, I closed the message wishing my friend, ‘Goodnight,’ which is Բարի գիշեր in Arenian. To save time in switching to the virtual Armenian keyboard, I transliterated it into the English alphabet and typed, “Bari gisher.”

The next morning when I opened my friend’s reply, I was mortified to be addressed as, “Good morning, Mr. Barry Fisher! I hastily scrolled back to my message of the previous evening and realized what had happened. Autocorrect had done its job! And I had not reviewed before clicking ‘send.’

The story did not end there. My friend went on to recall an incident that I had recounted to her at least a decade ago. The incident had actually occurred a full decade before that. But even two decades later it still remains fresh in my memory.

The year was 2006. It was my first ever trip to Armenia. Having got into the capital, Yerevan, in the wee hours of the morning, and unable to sleep, I was down in the hotel lobby at the crack of dawn looking for breakfast. There was no one around except the receptionist who greeted me respectfully with, what sounded to my ears as, “Barry Lewis!” Needless to say, I was confused.

This was before the days of Barry Lewis, the cook of YouTube fame. The only Barry Lewis I had heard of at that time was the county cricket batsman-wicketkeeper from Dorset who had never played a test. It seemed inconceivable that in a region where cricket was not played this name would be well-known.

So, thinking, he must have confused me with another guest, I said, as gently as I could, “Sorry, I’m not Barry Lewis. My name is Abie Alexander.” He was completely nonplussed and stared at me open mouthed. Finally, he managed to wish me good morning in English with a heavy Russian accent.

Later, when I met the colleagues of the local office, I recounted the story for clarification and was rewarded with hysterical merriment all-round.

Finally, after a couple of failed attempts to control her laughter, a lady colleague blurted out. “Bari luis (Բարի լույս) is good morning in Armenian”.