People do this to the
handicapped, the
blind, etc. etc. It's
stupid as hell, and often very
frightening if you are on the
receiving end.
Flip side of the coin: People who speak
very loudly in their
native tongue when they are in a
foreign country. They needn't even be
tourists, they can be
immigrants or other
visitors as well. I can't tell you how many times I've been sitting on a
bus and heard a pair of people talking at the top of their lungs about something of a very
personal nature.
Chinese people, that is, speaking
Mandarin in
San Francisco. I'm American...not
deaf. And despite all the jokes you hear (semi-true though they are), SOME Americans speak
more than one language! GASP!