Not that it’s unusual for a diner to inquire about the preparation of an item such as eggs, but that this young man’s pattern of speech had that oddly formal quality that is characteristic of a non-native speaker who is visiting a country and is making himself vulnerable, or anyway noticeable, by placing himself in situations where he must converse with a local. And so will often elicit, in that person with whom he is conversing, a beneficence or kindness that the person finds easy to produce, for the sake of encouragement.