omg. that reminds me of something I found hilarious. and embarrassing. at the same exact moment!
In my Friday French lesson, I had to write (in French, of course) a summary of a bad internet shopping experience I've had. This is a typical example of the kind of work we do .... something real life .... and then, during the lesson we discuss all of my *les erreurs* as well as the topic at hand.
anyway, so I was relating a bad eBay experience with a female vendor and in my story I referred to her as la Madame. Because I had previously learned that instead of saying l'homme for when you want to say 'the man' ... did this or that, it is better to say le monsieur.
so Laurence tells me, with a chuckle, that it is not la madame. unless you are referring to someone who was of royalty. or worked in a brothel!!!
well, if I had a euro for every time I've said la madame instead of la dame, I could buy myself and a hot le monsieur a nice dinner somewhere. lord knows how many women I've referred to as being house-of-ill-repute employees!
why oh why didn't one of my French friends correct me by now????!!!
why? because I'm the entertainment, folks.
sigh.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
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Now this is just goddamn funny.
Royalty, brothel, same thing, no?
I told you that your errors in French would be cute and endearing to the French. If they correct you, you will not be worth nearly the same level of endearing hilarity.
Bonne continuation, madame!
I know that my mistakes in French fill my French friends with endless glee. One time I was trying to say that I was pleased about something, and I used the term excited (rather than content). Apparently that means sexual excitement, and they thought it was hilarious. But despite my constant faux pas, they always tell me that I speak well (I try hard, but I don't)
Ah well, I am glad to repay them with this humor for all the good wine and food I have consumed.
Pearl
RG-well it actually IS probably the same thing when I think about a little more closely .... lol
LaF-tu a raison!
Pearl- well my friends know that I'm usually excité AND excited ... ba da bing, ba da boom! ha. And yes it is a small price to pay for the 'amities'!
Happy Birthday, Kimberlee!
I hope that your party was a bang up success and lots of fun! I know that the food was good!
Too bad there isn't some form of payback.
Good luck.
Beamer
Ma-dame
Ma-demoiselle
Mon-sieur.
What do these all have in common? The possessive.
Which is why when plurielised, they go:
Mes-dames
Mes-demoiselles
Mes-sieurs.
You would think that it would then be a no-brainer in that one does not put an article (in this case le ou la) in front of a possessive because that just doesn't make sense right? Well.... This goes all to shit because Le Monsieur or Les Monsieurs is possible. Hélas.
But what is funny is that Le Sieur could refer to someone of a higher "class" or clergy but La Madame (with the possessive) refers to whores or royalty.
And with that, you have it. It's all clear as mud.
Chortle.
beamer-exactement!
mrs c - as usual, I'm confused!
I should say that I tried to correct myself earlier (but blogger wouldn't let me) in that Les Monsieurs is impossible. Les Messieurs.
Yes. I'm an eejit.
Tis confusing. You're in good company.
mrs c - don't I know it (the good company part not the eejit part... ha)
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