Monday 2 August 2010

comment ça va ton père?


the frenchman would like to learn english, or at least improve his smattering of it. i’m thinking that for laughs i’m going to teach this very lad’s lad blokey bloke phrases from the good old days. “oh my word” instead of “fucking hell”, “goodness gracious”, “golly gosh” and “fiddlesticks” are in there but I really want to dig deep into obscurity for the nouns, things that would be understood were someone to say them even with a heavy french accent but words that would make you cock your head to one side and question where on earth this foreign skinhead would have learnt such a quaint phrase?

“how are you pascal?”
“oh i’m a tad tipsy but apart from that i’m hunky-dory. fancy a bit of slap and tickle in the little boys’ room?”

Sunday 1 August 2010

ho la la !


an ex came to stay last summer, not long after i first arrived. he was surprised to find that just as every stereotype has led us to believe the french do genuinely use the phrase "ooh la la". well in fact, i've never heard it in this raw form; more common is the brisk "ooh la!" of shock or the drawn out "ooh la la la la la la..." of disapproval. i've not had the confidence to use it myself as yet but feel a little pang of affection when it so naturally slips out of the mouths of the professionals.