go straight forward

[Maybo]

I met an English speaker and he asked me about direction.
He said he wanted to go to a bank.
So I told him "go straight forward and walk for 10 minutes"
Surprisingly, he replied with the reasons why he wanted to go to a bank.
And then I repeated, go straight forward, and he got angry and explained why he wanted to go to a bank again.
Later, I googled "go straight forward" and found that it means to be frank.
Do people use "go straight forward" to describe directions?:-|

 

[emsr2d2]

I met an English speaker and he asked me [STRIKE]about[/STRIKE] for directions no full stop here [STRIKE]He said he wanted to go[/STRIKE] to a bank.

[STRIKE]So[/STRIKE] I [STRIKE]tell[/STRIKE] told him "Go straight forward and walk for [STRIKE]10[/STRIKE] ten minutes".

Surprisingly, he replied with the reasons [STRIKE]why[/STRIKE] [that] he wanted to go to a bank.

[STRIKE]And[/STRIKE] Then I repeated, "Go straight forward" and he got angry and explained why he wanted to go to a bank again.

Later, I googled "go straight forward" and found that it means to be frank. No, it doesn't.

Do people use "go straight forward" to describe directions? :-|

Please note my corrections above.

Native speakers would say "Go straight ahead for ...", rather than "straight forward". We don't usually tell people how long to walk for (people walk at different speeds) but we tell them how far to walk for, so we'd say something like "Go straight ahead for six blocks" or "Go straight ahead for 500 metres".

As you can see from my comment in blue above, "go straight forward" does not mean "to be frank". If you Google "straightforward" (one word, not two) then you will find that it can mean "frank". We don't use "go straightforward".

Rather than Googling words, please consider using OneLook and FrazeIt. You'll learn a lot more.

I don't believe your story. No English speaker would take "Go straight forward" to mean "Be frank with me" when they've just asked you for directions.

 

[Maybo]

I don't believe your story. No English speaker would take "Go straight forward" to mean "Be frank with me" when they've just asked you for directions.

"Be frank with me" is just my guess because he kept repeating why he wanted to go to the bank. Maybe there were some misunderstandings in our conversation.

 

[Maybo]

I can only guess that this person had mental health issues.

Possible:shock:, and he got angry and even asked me to go to the English school to improve my English.

 

[GoesStation]

Possible:shock:, and he got angry and even asked me to go to the English school to improve my English.

He must not have understood you. I can't guess what he thought you'd said, but it must have been something for which his response made sense.

 

[Maybo]

He must not have understood you. I can't guess what he thought you'd said, but it must have been something for which his response made sense.

Maybe my accent was hard for him to understand. Or maybe I misunderstood him.
He kept saying he needed to transfer money to his mother and it was urgent. I didn't know what he expected me to respond.

 

[tzfujimino]

Do you remember his question? What did he say?

 

[GoesStation]

I wonder if your "forward" sounded like "for what". If that was the only bit of your utterance that he understood, it could have sounded like a question that ended with "for what?"

 

[Maybo]

Do you remember his question? What did he say?

He asked, "Can you speak a little English?" I said yes. And then he asked "Where is XX bank?"
And I replied, "Go straight forward and walk for ten minutes".
Then, he began to explain.

 

[Maybo]

I wonder if your "forward" sounded like "for what". If that was the only bit of your utterance that he understood, it could have sounded like a question that ended with "for what?"

I don't know if my "forward" sounded like "for what". But that's possible.:lol:

 

[GoesStation]

I don't know if my "forward" sounded like "for what". But that's possible.:lol:

If you post a recording of what you said, we can make a better guess of what he heard.

 

[Tarheel]

Maybe my accent was hard for him to understand. Or maybe I misunderstood him. He kept saying he needed to transfer money to his mother and it was urgent. I don't know what he expected me to say.

Me neither.