Judith Lea wrote:
In article , Janet Tweedy
writes

In article , Judith Lea
writes

We spent last Friday night in a lovely old hotel on the French border
in Northern France and heard Walloon French, Wow, different to
anything I have heard before - mind you the food and wine were superb
so I didn't have to speak too much!


My dad was fluent in that, in the war. We thought he was joking when
he used to tell us he could speak Walloon, when we were young.
Apparently some sort of dialect?


Janet


It is a dialect but also much more, there are some words that do not
exist in French - I loved the intonation, it was a bit like the Welsh.


In fact, it is several dialects, and people from different regions don't
necessarily understand each other! For example, the "walloon" spoken by
my father near the Luxembourg border is drastically different from one
spoken where my mother is from (La Louviere, near french border). I love
these languages and it's really a shame that they disappear so quickly.
I know just only a few words...

Philippe

Philippe Gautier wrote:
In fact, it is several dialects, and people from different regions don't
necessarily understand each other! For example, the "walloon" spoken by
my father near the Luxembourg border is drastically different from one
spoken where my mother is from (La Louviere, near french border). I love
these languages and it's really a shame that they disappear so quickly.
I know just only a few words...

Just found out when in St Ives that the last woman who spoke Cornish
has died this year. Isn't that terrible? (

In reply to David (in Normandy) )
who wrote this in , I, Marvo, say :

I do recall thinking that their numbering system of
septante and nonante for seventy and ninety was a great deal more
'sensible'
than that of the French!
Sacha

I'm still learning the language and am just about there with the
numbers now. A few months ago I made quite a blunder in the local
bricolage store though. I'd stacked 16 fencing stakes on my trolley
and the lady on the checkout asked me how many I'd got. My mind went
blank, then I thought 17 is dix-sept and 18 is dix-huit so therefore
16 must be dix-six. So I said "J'ai dix-six" - and got the most
peculiar look back. She repeated the question and I pointed at the
stakes and repeated "J'ai dix-six" and I got another weird look, so
she got out of her chair came round and counted them herself then
exclaimed "Ah! Seize!". It wasn't until I got home that I twigged why
I got such a strange look - when she asked me how many, I was in
effect saying "They are dead!".

Worse is Swiss French. They have words for seventy and ninety as well ...
septante and nonante (IIRC).

David (in Normandy) wrote:
I do recall thinking that their numbering system of
septante and nonante for seventy and ninety was a great deal more
'sensible'
than that of the French!
Sacha

I'm still learning the language and am just about there with the numbers
now. A few months ago I made quite a blunder in the local bricolage store
though. I'd stacked 16 fencing stakes on my trolley and the lady on the
checkout asked me how many I'd got. My mind went blank, then I thought 17 is
dix-sept and 18 is dix-huit so therefore 16 must be dix-six. So I said "J'ai
dix-six" - and got the most peculiar look back. She repeated the question
and I pointed at the stakes and repeated "J'ai dix-six" and I got another
weird look, so she got out of her chair came round and counted them herself
then exclaimed "Ah! Seize!". It wasn't until I got home that I twigged why I
got such a strange look - when she asked me how many, I was in effect saying
"They are dead!".

Er.. no. You were simply saying... something unintelligible.

Dix-six might sound like decease to your English ear, but it just
sounded like gobbledigook to the sales assistant.
They are dead would be ils sont décédés - not quite j'ai dix-six.

Cat(h)

Cat(h) wrote:
Er.. no. You were simply saying... something unintelligible.
Dix-six might sound like decease to your English ear, but it just
sounded like gobbledigook to the sales assistant.
They are dead would be ils sont décédés - not quite j'ai dix-six.

How truly amazing! When I perused David(in Normandy) website I saw his
diary entry for September and the above 'decede' thing. I wanted to
write something - but then I thought not to because then I thought
Janet will tell me that my French is wrong ... even though I'm French!

I'm glad you brought this up. In fact what David thought he sounded
like was in English "dix six" = "decease". The mind works in strange
ways ... ;o)

La Puce wrote:
Cat(h) wrote:
Er.. no. You were simply saying... something unintelligible.
Dix-six might sound like decease to your English ear, but it just
sounded like gobbledigook to the sales assistant.
They are dead would be ils sont décédés - not quite j'ai dix-six.

How truly amazing! When I perused David(in Normandy) website I saw his
diary entry for September and the above 'decede' thing. I wanted to
write something - but then I thought not to because then I thought
Janet will tell me that my French is wrong ... even though I'm French!


You do enjoy scab picking, don't you ;-)

I'm glad you brought this up. In fact what David thought he sounded
like was in English "dix six" = "decease". The mind works in strange
ways ... ;o)

Not strange at all, simply with one's own framework of reference - as
determined by one's own culture, including language.
Mind you, it might explain a thing or two about "A Year in Provence"
;-)

Cat(h)

In reply to La Puce ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

Cat(h) wrote:
Er.. no. You were simply saying... something unintelligible.
Dix-six might sound like decease to your English ear, but it just
sounded like gobbledigook to the sales assistant.
They are dead would be ils sont décédés - not quite j'ai dix-six.

How truly amazing! When I perused David(in Normandy) website I saw his
diary entry for September and the above 'decede' thing. I wanted to
write something - but then I thought not to because then I thought
Janet will tell me that my French is wrong ... even though I'm French!

I bow to your superior knowledge of French, as I haven't been French since
1066. Anyone else might get an argument (I just like arguing) :-)

Cat(h) wrote:
You do enjoy scab picking, don't you ;-)

Well, I wouldn't put it that way! And no, I don't. But I'm honest,
fair, and always always say what I think. It's a fact that I've been
told 3 times that my French was incorrect (would you beleive). I'm
reputed to say what I feel - don't see why I'd change just because I
write instead of speak )

Not strange at all, simply with one's own framework of reference - as
determined by one's own culture, including language.
Mind you, it might explain a thing or two about "A Year in Provence"
;-)

I didn't see it, nor read it. Can't stand people's criticism towards
places they decide to go to live and just try to change everything or
constantly compare with the place they've just left because they didn't
like it. I don't get it. I've been in England for 25 years - there's
nothing I would change. Perhaps the weather where I am, only sometimes
though )

La Puce wrote:
Cat(h) wrote:
You do enjoy scab picking, don't you ;-)

Well, I wouldn't put it that way! And no, I don't. But I'm honest,
fair, and always always say what I think. It's a fact that I've been
told 3 times that my French was incorrect (would you beleive). I'm
reputed to say what I feel - don't see why I'd change just because I
write instead of speak )


I bit my tongue at the time, because I think the exchange was daft and
wasteful of bandwidth. But if this is what you are referring to, then
let me put it diplomatically thus: my understanding of c***e is *not*
of a gentle affectionate insult.

Cat(h)

Cat(h) wrote:
I bit my tongue at the time, because I think the exchange was daft and
wasteful of bandwidth. But if this is what you are referring to, then
let me put it diplomatically thus: my understanding of c***e is *not*
of a gentle affectionate insult.

) It depends how you say it. My brother always says 'con' at the end
of all his sentences. But yes, I am certainly not trying to be
affectionate there. However, the word has nothing to do with female
genitalia - lets make this absolutely clear - contrary to what we were
led to beleive.

btw - any luck with the plant we're trying to identify?

"La Puce" writes:

Just found out when in St Ives that the last woman who spoke Cornish
has died this year. Isn't that terrible? (

Well I knew September had gone on a long time, but...

The last monoglot speakers of Cornish died in the late 1700's, the
last known speakers in the late 1800's though by then it was only a
few words. The current versions of the language are basically
reconstructions from what written records remain and there are regular
battles over which of the three major systems is the most "authentic".

Anthony

On 11/9/06 12:25, in article
, "La Puce"
wrote:


Philippe Gautier wrote:
In fact, it is several dialects, and people from different regions don't
necessarily understand each other! For example, the "walloon" spoken by
my father near the Luxembourg border is drastically different from one
spoken where my mother is from (La Louviere, near french border). I love
these languages and it's really a shame that they disappear so quickly.
I know just only a few words...

Just found out when in St Ives that the last woman who spoke Cornish
has died this year. Isn't that terrible? (


It would be if it were true.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

On 11/9/06 16:30, in article
, "La Puce"
wrote:


Cat(h) wrote:
I bit my tongue at the time, because I think the exchange was daft and
wasteful of bandwidth. But if this is what you are referring to, then
let me put it diplomatically thus: my understanding of c***e is *not*
of a gentle affectionate insult.

) It depends how you say it. My brother always says 'con' at the end
of all his sentences. But yes, I am certainly not trying to be
affectionate there. However, the word has nothing to do with female
genitalia - lets make this absolutely clear - contrary to what we were
led to beleive.

btw - any luck with the plant we're trying to identify?


It's time you changed your MO. Hurling filthy language and insult at
people, then protesting your starry-eyed, loose lipped innocence and
pretending to wrench your muck back to on-topic, is beginning to lose its
appeal. It lost its credibility a long time ago. That word has indeed to
do with female genitalia, depending on the context and the intention of the
person using it. Your character speaks for itself in that regard.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

On 11/9/06 21:55, in article , "
wrote:

"La Puce" writes:

Just found out when in St Ives that the last woman who spoke Cornish
has died this year. Isn't that terrible? (

Well I knew September had gone on a long time, but...

The last monoglot speakers of Cornish died in the late 1700's, the
last known speakers in the late 1800's though by then it was only a
few words. The current versions of the language are basically
reconstructions from what written records remain and there are regular
battles over which of the three major systems is the most "authentic".


From what I recall, the name of the last monoglot Cornish speaker, Dolly
Pentreath, is given at Lanhydrock with her date of death as 1777. Even that
is not without dispute, AIUI.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Sacha wrote:
It's time you changed your MO. Hurling filthy language and insult at
people,

Janet called me a French bitch - I called her 'une conne'. Sorry to
burst your bubble Sacha, but drop it now. For everytime I get a riposte
from Janet you come along and make her sound angelic. She's not. She's
vicious and basically very sad. Finally, you will not make me beleive
that you speak better French than I do.