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07-02-2006, 05:09 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 7/2/06 14:00, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:
On 7/2/06 12:26, in article , "Judith
Lea" wrote:

Yes Janet, you sound just like my husband - my French is great, everyone
hangs on to my every word - they just stare at me. My husband then
explains (in a restaurant) that I have just asked for Duck jam instead
of confit d'canard.

This sounds like one of my better gaffes in Italian - hot, bothered and
beleaguered by my children, I was doing some food shopping. I asked the
startled shopkeeper and his heavily pregnant wife if I could have 'sei
pommerigi' instead of 'sei pommodori' - six afternoons, instead of six
tomatoes. Once she realised I was not inviting her husband into a career as
a gigolo, the wife laughed so much I thought she was going to give birth
then and there!

And my sister while at the University of Pisa, asking for 'finoccio' -
take your pick, either fennel or a gay bloke. She very soon learnt to
point to suggestively shaped vegetables too, and ask for half a kilo of
those, and three of those, and...

One needs to watch out when asking for 'una fica', (fig) too.... I thought
farfalle were gay men but now I think I'm thinking of mariposa which is
Spanish and I don't even speak Spanish! (Both are butterflies) My mother
outlaw was Italian so from my ex I learned a tiny smattering of Italian and
it was enough to finally tell a very rude and unpleasant ski-lift attendant
who had been shouting and whinging and bossing everyone about for a week, to
"**** off", after he'd tried to push one of my children into place. It's
extremely rare for me to use such language but it was worth it to see the
look of astonishment on his dropped jawed face and the improvement in his
behaviour was astounding!

The French waitress was also rude in that she corrected me three times
when I asked for the desert menu, it was amusing the first time she
stressed the pronunciation; and I then tried to say it as she said it,
she repeated it again, in a louder voice, and again I tried but when she
repeated it to me, in a very loud voice, for the third time, I retorted
with just bring me the ****** menu please (in my best French of course).
After all I had gone there to eat not to have a French lesson!

VERY rude! But I think that a smattering of the basics and then as much
chat as you can get your hands on is a very good way to learn a language.
If you have just a start in the verbs and how to ask for a few things in
shops etc., it's remarkable how quickly you can build on that. Some friends
of mine moved to France several years ago and spoke what was really very
basic school French. They made a deliberate choice to live where there were
no foreigners and within a year they had made almost entirely French friends
and were yakking away nineteen to the dozen.

It's loike thet hair in Naaaaarfk, thet it is. Dew yew troy tew foller
some squit sometimes and yer lorst.

Ray said he had someone working for him who was from Suffolk and he used to
say of the Norfolkians "'e's so thick 'e doan know its rainin' 'til 'e sees
it splashin' on the duckpond" ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)