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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Parlez-vous Francais?


After coming home, it's hard not compare New York to Europe. Mark and I have made a pact - we will win Lotto, purchase Costa Rica, then a townhouse in Amsterdam and a pied-a-terre in Paris. That's the plan.

It boggles my mind that people are born French. They don't have to learn the language. They can live in Paris. They dress fashionably without having to work at it.

I was telling a contractor today about my recent trip. Martin is working on a house in Montreal. His heavy French-Canadian accent sounds like a caricature. Every conversation with Martin takes twice as long, and I have to cover my mouth sometimes to stifle my good-natured laughter.

'Inches' actually means 'hinges'. Every other word has an additional 'lo' attached on the end. Then one day, we struggled while talking about a swimming pool. 'Les herbs!' he said, emphatically. 'Les herbs! They get into the tile.'

'Huh? Les herbs?' I racked my brains on that one. 'Oh, you mean algae?'

And so as a tribute to Martin and to Paris, I am posting the following video clip.




Photo by myself, from the hall at Versailles. I'm still processing images, but for some others, click here.

4 comments:

Mom Knows Everything said...

My grandmother was born and raised in Quebec. French was her first language. I speak a little French thanks to her, but I know what you mean about how funny it sounds when they speak English. They use their hands an awful lot too.
~Tammy

Mom Knows Everything said...

I have a SMILE Award over at my blog for you. ~ Tammy

Kitty said...

Martin brightens my day. He is such a nice, funny guy.

You're lucky to speak french. I bet it comes easily for you since you grew up with it. My several years in high school didn't do much for me.

And thank you for the award! I am truly flattered!!!

goldengoddess said...

Awesome blog, Kitty! I love Steve Martin, he is too funny and this skit was hilarious. My boyfriend's extended families are French-Canadian and English, what a combination. Thanks for sharing your stories, they are beautifully written ... will be back to read more later ;)