Originally Posted by
Boraxo
My personal fav is to pretend I am Russian, particularly in Mexico when approached by timeshare hacks, to wit: "No entiendo, soy Ruskie" This also work in France with "Je no ce pas France"
Of course none of the Mexicans are fooled by this, but it often evokes a laugh and some will try to trick me by yelling in English.
A NYC favorite is to walk in a crazy manner and start yelling random phrases - the last thing a perp wants is to deal with an unpredictable crazy person.
The one to use in Mexico is "no fumar espanol". This is used in adventure motorcycling to such great effect it even frustrates corrupt police who want to extort money from you.