Re: CHAT: OFF: Eddie Izzard (Re: CHAT: Champaign!)

Paul Bennett wrote:
>
> Christophe>>>>>>
> Just a small message to tell you that to celebrate the 1000th person
> who landed on my webpage (the counting began on the end of July) last
> week, I asked David to give me subdomains directing to my page.
> <<<<<<
>
> Hehehehe!
>
> The title of your message reminded me of an Eddie Izzard piece, where he
> mentions that the French have the opposite attitude to the English regarding
> Beer and Champaign.  The French will, according to Eddie, celebrate _anything_
> by opening champaign, and reserve beer for special occasions:  "You have crossed
> the road? Champaign!"  "You have bought a new car? Champaign!"  "You have found
> some money down the back of your couch? Champaign!"  "You have had a baby?
> Here's a beer..." *
>
        I don't know this man. Most American showmen are unknown in Europe and
especially in France, you know (well, I think it must be the same the
other way round too :) ).

> Not that I'm suggesting that your website isn't worthy of champaign! <G>
        Sometimes I wonder... :)

 It's
> very interesting, I haven't had a chance to look over all of it yet.  Much of
> the site seems to be only in French only, but The Altavista Babelfish (and some
> careful reading) makes fairly short work of it.
>
        I never tried Babelfish for long texts, but seeing how it works for the
bits I give it sometimes, the result with a long text must be awful! :)
I long for the Universal Translator of Star Trek...
        As for my homepage, it will unfortunately stay a long time only in
French, as I don't have the time to translate what I've already written
(too busy adding things and trying to cope with real life :( ). But if
someone finds the time to do that for me, I would be very grateful :) .

> So ... yeah, ObTinyAlmostRelevantBit:
> I really must get on and webify myself.  I've started, but it doesn't amount to
> enough to tell about.
>
        The beginning is always the most difficult part. After it goes on by
itself :) .

> ---
> Pb
>
> * I don't know if it's even remotely true, and maybe you have to watch the video
> (and appreciate his humour **) to find it funny.  Nevertheless, I found it very
> funny to be reminded of it in this way.
>
        It is not true at all. Beer is considered very common in France, and is
not used at all on special occasions. For that, we have only champaign
or "mousseux" for less special occasions.

> ** Eddie Izzard is the only comedian who includes the French language in his act
> (that I know of).  He's also the only person who speaks large chunks of French
> that I can understand in "real time" ***, which probably explains a lot.
>
        Interesting. How does he do with a mostly monolingual audience? Is it a
humour more on intonations and movements than on words themselves?

> *** If you ever catch any of his videos, watch out for the "language lab", and
> the school visit to France.
>
        OK :) .

--
        Christophe Grandsire

        Philips Research Laboratories --  Building WB 145
        Prof. Holstlaan 4
        5656 AA Eindhoven
        The Netherlands

        Phone:  +31-40-27-45006
        E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com