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Le chien chaud, as our amis quebecois would say
I bought a hot dog from a street vendor today. Yeah, I know, I'm not a big hot dog eater. It surprised me, too, but the onions smelled yummy and sometimes you have to try to act normal and not ask for just a bun full of grilled onions.
"Do you want a @#xy&6$ or a iej30#72@?" he asked me.
"Comment?" I asked, not hearing or understanding the choices he was giving me.
"What?"
"Uh... I mean... 'What?'" I clarified.
Sometimes the French just pops out uncontrollably and I don't know what to do with myself. Turns out he was asking if I wanted a regular bun or French bread, which is sort of ironic. I think it's been a while since I've bought food on the street. Is French my automatic language for that behavior?
srah - Thursday, 16 October 2003 - 1:05 PM
Tags: french
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Comments (10)
jday - October 16, 2003 - 4:16 PM - ℓ
I htought you wrote, "Sometimes the French just POOPS out..." sigh. need sleep
katie - October 17, 2003 - 8:35 AM - ℓ
I get it in reverse. At work, people try to be cute by saying "Merci!" to me when I give them something. They pronounce it badly, and also they emphasize the cuteness of it. I never want to sound like a prig by responding in French, but once in a while when it really pisses me off, I come back with, "Pas de quoi, et si vous n'avez plus de questions, je vous prie de quitter mon bureau en vitesse."
Spike - October 18, 2003 - 3:29 AM - ℓ
Happens most when tired: I'll slip into French with English people or English with French people. Last time was at my father's funeral, when I told a friend that I was just going to grab a cup of coffee, then we'd wander out for a smoke and a chat. He looked at me like I was some kind of alien.
Took me a good five seconds to realise I'd said it in French. D'oh! :)
Isn't it weird when that happens? I always feel it's at the strangest of moments. I often say "Merci" when someone holds the door open for me, because in France you have a tendency to thank the person whereas in the US people just sort of do it without any gratitude.
I also say, "Oh, pardon!" to people on buses or subways in the States. That's annoying.
But I think you're on to something: those are both French behaviors for me. It's always the little words that trip me up.