I had the privilege of working in a manufacturing plant in the deep South with a delightful Afghan man named Mohammed who would sometimes come to me with questions about the English language.

One day he asked me about something that other men would often say. To him it sounded like "ah goo" or "ah gun." He repeated it many times with subtle changes in pronunciation, but I still didn't recognize it. Then I asked when they said it. At the end of the day, was his reply.

"Oh," I said. "They're saying 'have a good one.'" "'Av a good wun," he replied. "'Av a good what?" Short for "have a good day," I said. He practiced saying it over and over, but in the end it came back to--"ah gun." That really is what they were saying.

I told him that the worse he said it, the better he said it, and that we'd make an American out of him yet. He kinda liked that.

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."