Yesterday I was leaving my building when a neighbor whom I had a met a few times stopped me.
You look very serious, she said in Spanish.
Oh, I said. She was almost middle-aged, which I hadn't noticed before.
Phlegmatic, she said. That's what we say.
That's funny, I said. We don't really say that in English.
About the English, she said. We say they're very phlegmatic.
Actually I'm not English, I said. I'm American. We're happy.
Yes. But we say they're phlegmatic, the English.
Well, I said. I'm not English. Goodbye!
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