Padraig Breathnach

Magda <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Tue, 10 May 2005 09:35:46 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig Breathnach
    ><[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... Magda <[email protected]> wrote:
    > ...
    > ... >On Tue, 10 May 2005 01:21:48 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig Breathnach
    > ... ><[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... >
    > ... > ... I truly don't know what Francophones think of French spoken with an
    > ... > ... American or English or (of particular interest to me) an Irish accent.
    > ... > ... Do they find it pleasing, or displeasing, or simply different?
    > ... >
    > ... >They LOVE it. Guess why Jane Birkin has "kept" hers for more than 30 years...
    > ...
    > ... Not a fair example: many men would love anything Jane Birkin might say
    > ... in any kind of voice.
    >As long as they don't pay attention to what's actually being said...
You lack a male perspective, Magda. A man in a lustful state doesn't
give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
not "no".

    > I certainly liked her accent in "Je t'aime; moi
    > ... non plus."
    >That one is hard to forget, huh ? ;)
To tell the truth, I didn't really like her voice in that recording.
Okay, the heavy breathing was amusing, but the false little-girl voice
creates an image which is not quite right.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach

Ulf Kutzner <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Padraig Breathnach schrieb:
    >>
    >> Scene: a café/tabac in a village near Roscoff, Brittany.
    >> Cast: Sales Assistant, Customer.
    >>
    >> Customer enters.
    >> SA: Bonjour.
    >> C: Bonjour, vous avez du tabac de pipe?
    >> SA: Yes (indicating shelf). What brand you want?
    >[...].
    >> Customer exits, screaming silently "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
    >Should have said "tabac à pipe".
Google:
tabac.à.pipe: 689
tabac.de.pipe: 281

A quick perusal of hits suggests that both terms are used on sites
maintained by people in the tobacco industry, in distribution, and by
other bodies or agencies that might be expected to know the
terminology.

Stronger support for my usage: Magda didn't jump on it.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Nitram

On Tue, 10 May 2005 13:00:22 +0200, Ulf Kutzner
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Padraig Breathnach schrieb:
    >>
    >> Scene: a café/tabac in a village near Roscoff, Brittany.
    >> Cast: Sales Assistant, Customer.
    >>
    >> Customer enters.
    >> SA: Bonjour.
    >> C: Bonjour, vous avez du tabac de pipe?
    >> SA: Yes (indicating shelf). What brand you want?
    >[...].
    >> Customer exits, screaming silently "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
    >Should have said "tabac à pipe".

Je veux un pipe?

Icono Clast

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    > What I have seen on more than one occasion is tourists starting a
    > transaction in English without asking if the server or shop assistant
    > or whoever can speak it. That sometimes produces a negative reaction
    > -- to my mind, with some justification, because it is arrogant
    > behaviour. If you ask "parlez-vous anglais ?"

Which I do after having said "I don't speak French" in French so well
that the statement is often greeted with laughter or "I don't believe
you" in English.

I've found the French, contemporary and decades ago, to be no less
friendly and helpful than others. There are always exceptions, of
course, but, by definition, they're not the norm. In my experience,
whither one goes, people are nice.
__________________________________________________ _________________
A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco.
< http://geocities.com/dancefest/ >-< http://geocities.com/iconoc/ >
ICQ: < http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 > ---> IClast at SFbay Net

Edmund Lewis

Jordi wrote:
    > EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) ha escrito:
    > > Jordi wrote:
    > >
    > > >
    > > > In Spain or (less) Portugal, that would be a different matter.
    > French
    > > > is perhaps the most unique of romance languages.
    > >
    > > What about Romanian? (I once worked with a woman from
    > > Transylvania (where they may speak either Hungarian or
    > > Romanian) - she taught me a few phrases, but even though
    > > Romanina is supposed to be a romance language, I didn't see
    > > much similarity to any of the three with which I have a
    > > nodding acquaintance.
    > > >
    > Romanian and Italian share some features (male plural in -i, c letter
    > pronounced the same, etc.) as they are both part of the eastern
romance
    > languages, in the real world this means that a Romanian may well
    > understand a decent amount of Italian, but Romanian sounds like
    > gibberish to Italians and French alike, as it has a very heavy Slavic
    > sounding.
    > Written Romanian is another matter, and you may well identify a good
    > percentage of the words (or word roots, anyway).
    > So Romanian and French would be the most unique, then :)
    > J.

The most unique thing about Romanian (among Romance languages) is that
the definite article goes after the noun. This is an areal feature
found also in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Albanian (all Indo European but
not Romance). It also occurs in Scandinavian languages. (Romanian has
also kept the genitive case of Latin).

However the forms of words in Romanian are generally closer to Latin
than their French cognates are.

Edmund

Edmund

Magda

On Tue, 10 May 2005 12:06:57 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :


... >As long as they don't pay attention to what's actually being said...
... >
... You lack a male perspective, Magda.

And I don't have a small head, either. Boy, I'm happy. :))

A man in a lustful state doesn't
... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
... not "no".

Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...

Magda

On Tue, 10 May 2005 12:20:01 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :

... Ulf Kutzner <[email protected]> wrote:
...
... >Padraig Breathnach schrieb:
... >>
... >> Scene: a café/tabac in a village near Roscoff, Brittany.
... >> Cast: Sales Assistant, Customer.
... >>
... >> Customer enters.
... >> SA: Bonjour.
... >> C: Bonjour, vous avez du tabac de pipe?
... >> SA: Yes (indicating shelf). What brand you want?
... >[...].
... >> Customer exits, screaming silently "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
... >
... >Should have said "tabac à pipe".
... >
... Google:
... tabac.à.pipe: 689
... tabac.de.pipe: 281
...
... A quick perusal of hits suggests that both terms are used on sites
... maintained by people in the tobacco industry, in distribution, and by
... other bodies or agencies that might be expected to know the
... terminology.
...
... Stronger support for my usage: Magda didn't jump on it.

I'm adding nuts and almonds to your chocolate medal. :))

Nitram

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:26:00 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Tue, 10 May 2005 12:06:57 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig Breathnach
    ><[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... >As long as they don't pay attention to what's actually being said...
    > ... >
    > ... You lack a male perspective, Magda.
    >And I don't have a small head, either. Boy, I'm happy. :))

You are one of Snow White's little friends?

    > A man in a lustful state doesn't
    > ... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
    > ... not "no".
    >Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...

Do you encounter a lot of them?

Magda

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:32:39 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :


... > A man in a lustful state doesn't
... > ... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
... > ... not "no".
... >
... >Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...
...
... Do you encounter a lot of them?

There was indeed a time when I thought that the chromosome Y contained a gene that caused
hopeless idiocy.

Magda

On Tue, 10 May 2005 13:46:36 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On Tue, 10 May 2005 13:00:22 +0200, Ulf Kutzner
... <[email protected]> wrote:
...
... >Padraig Breathnach schrieb:
... >>
... >> Scene: a café/tabac in a village near Roscoff, Brittany.
... >> Cast: Sales Assistant, Customer.
... >>
... >> Customer enters.
... >> SA: Bonjour.
... >> C: Bonjour, vous avez du tabac de pipe?
... >> SA: Yes (indicating shelf). What brand you want?
... >[...].
... >> Customer exits, screaming silently "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
... >
... >Should have said "tabac à pipe".
...
... Je veux un pipe?

Une.

Why are you asking ? You don't know what you want ?

Nitram

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:39:14 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:32:39 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
    >some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... > A man in a lustful state doesn't
    > ... > ... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
    > ... > ... not "no".
    > ... >
    > ... >Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...
    > ...
    > ... Do you encounter a lot of them?
    >There was indeed a time when I thought that the chromosome Y contained a gene that caused
    >hopeless idiocy.

Was this in the days when you were shy and tended to mumble?
    :-)

Nitram

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:40:02 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Tue, 10 May 2005 13:46:36 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
    >some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... On Tue, 10 May 2005 13:00:22 +0200, Ulf Kutzner
    > ... <[email protected]> wrote:
    > ...
    > ... >Padraig Breathnach schrieb:
    > ... >>
    > ... >> Scene: a café/tabac in a village near Roscoff, Brittany.
    > ... >> Cast: Sales Assistant, Customer.
    > ... >>
    > ... >> Customer enters.
    > ... >> SA: Bonjour.
    > ... >> C: Bonjour, vous avez du tabac de pipe?
    > ... >> SA: Yes (indicating shelf). What brand you want?
    > ... >[...].
    > ... >> Customer exits, screaming silently "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
    > ... >
    > ... >Should have said "tabac à pipe".
    > ...
    > ... Je veux un pipe?
    >Une.
    >Why are you asking ? You don't know what you want ?

I knew you would focus on the spelling and not the meaning.

Magda

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:40:45 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:39:14 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
... wrote:
...
... >On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:32:39 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
... >some electrons, so they looked like this :
... >
... >
... > ... > A man in a lustful state doesn't
... > ... > ... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
... > ... > ... not "no".
... > ... >
... > ... >Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...
... > ...
... > ... Do you encounter a lot of them?
... >
... >There was indeed a time when I thought that the chromosome Y contained a gene that caused
... >hopeless idiocy.
...
... Was this in the days when you were shy and tended to mumble?

No, when I was young and pretty. :))

Nitram

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:43:02 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:40:45 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
    >some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:39:14 +0200, Magda <[email protected]>
    > ... wrote:
    > ...
    > ... >On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:32:39 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
    > ... >some electrons, so they looked like this :
    > ... >
    > ... >
    > ... > ... > A man in a lustful state doesn't
    > ... > ... > ... give a fig for what the object of his desires says so long as it is
    > ... > ... > ... not "no".
    > ... > ... >
    > ... > ... >Not to mention the daft ones who think that "no" is a "maybe" or even a "yes"...
    > ... > ...
    > ... > ... Do you encounter a lot of them?
    > ... >
    > ... >There was indeed a time when I thought that the chromosome Y contained a gene that caused
    > ... >hopeless idiocy.
    > ...
    > ... Was this in the days when you were shy and tended to mumble?
    >No, when I was young and pretty. :))

<consults Gaston> So you still have the problem? :-)

EvelynVogtGamble

Magda wrote:

    > On Mon, 09 May 2005 09:44:54 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
    > <[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
    >
    >
    > ... My experience is usually that, if I begin by speaking French
    > ... (and I have no illusions about SOUNDING French), the shop
    > ... assistant or whoever then continues the conversation in
    > ... French. They will slow down, even rephrase, and try to
    > ... ensure that I understand them, but unless I forlornly ask
    > ... "parlez vous anglaise, s'il vous plait?" they keep on in
    > ... French. (I suspect it's their way of having fun, and I do
    > ... appreciate them allowing me to make the attempt, but there
    > ... are times when it's very frustrating!)
    >
    > Evelyn, I hope you really don't say "anglaise", but "anglais".

Well, I don't pronounce the "s", so it's only my French
spelling that's at fault. ;-)
    >
    > If you say "anglaise", may I ask if they ever offered you cream ? That's the kind of
    > stupid joke the french are likely to come up with to have fun at a foreigner's expense...

Well, I recall using "le plus grand" to a francophone opera
singer (he's Belgian), when praising his performance. I'm
not sure what I got wrong, but with an impish grin, he
promptly stepped up onto the platform where I was standing,
to show that he was indeed "plus grand" (que moi, anyway).
I'm perfectly willing to laugh at my own mistakes, so things
like that don't bother me.