Re: OT: Slightly OT: French as a second language

On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> En réponse à Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...>:
>
> > My French sucks like a hoover, of course, but today I was writing a
> > story
> > about a guy who finds a rip in reality, and steps through it into a
> > desert, and returns with some of the sand.  I wanted to make him a Dr,
> > and
> > a fairly pathetic fellow, so of course I fell back on French (sorry,
> > Christophe, but I hate your native language, as much as I like you).
> >
>
> He he... The more I learn about foreign tongues, the more I like my own
> language, because I discover in it features that had been hidden by the stupid
> way I've been taught it at school (in France, we're taught French as if it was
> Latin, which completely disforms the reality of the language).
Tell me about it!  It's the same with English, and even weirder, because
English has only the most tenuous connection to Latin -- French is at
least a Romance language, albeit the most non-Latinate of them all.  So
you have weird non-rules in English that come from mistaking it for Latin
-- things like, "never split an infinitive."  There is absolutely no
reason to forbid splitting an infinitive; sometimes it feels very natural
and right to do so.  But Latin doesn't (can't) do it, so we're not
allowed?  Oi.  I could go off on this for a good long time; once you teach
English for a living, you start to realize how backward our descriptive
grammars really are.

> > I decided to just name him something that sounded French, and look up
> > a
> > suitable name later, so I came up with Bouchon.  Dr. Bouchon.
> >
>
> :))
>
> > Then, in revising, I looked it up.  It means "cork; wisp of straw."  Am
> > I
> > suddenly psychically picking up the *perfect* French word for what I
> > want
> > to say?  Am I tied into the group mind?  Or did I just get lucky?
> >
> > Past life memories, maybe?
> >
>
> No, but it's just a proof to the claim that everyone in the world really thinks
> in French, and they are just obliged to learn those strange foreign languages
> to confuse French people and deny them the place they really
> deserve :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
> (I guess the smiley is big enough to show that I'm joking :)))))))))))))))))) ).
Non!  Mes amis, il a decouvert le vrai.  Maintenant nous devons tuer-lui!

:)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prurio modo viri qui in arbore pilosa est.
                        ~~Elvis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reply