Neal Stephenson has said that French culture possesses "an admirable stiff-neckedness that gave us the Jacobites, the metric system, the force de frappe, Airbus, and Arrêt signs in Quebec." Having spent several months in France now, I think that this observation goes too far. Hanging out in France is not like being penned up in some kind of sadistic etiquette school. People are perfectly willing to go with the flow, particularly in service of a reasonable objective. This is why waiters are so patient with my attempts at French, other than just being nice human beings: I have a credit card.
Why did French feel the need to coin a French word for e-mail, for instance? Were they just being stiff-necked? I thought maybe the latter, until I discovered that the word émail is already in use in French. It means "enamel." Hence the need for courriel.
Brian, Thanks for bringing your blog to our attention via your FB page. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I spoke French. My definition of that capability is that I came to dream in French, occasionally, and also carried on some conversations without translating each sentence into English in my head. Having said that, I don't think my French was ever particularly good, nor was my vocabulary at all extensive, and, alas, I more or less turned my back on the language at the age of 15 (idiot teenager) when I moved to the US. As an only slightly more mature adult, I find myself pining for any sort of second language facility and French would be my natural choice. I'm enjoying your blog, and journey, immensely.
ReplyDelete