Walking home from a cafe earlier today we saw an elderly newspaper vendor, so Melanie smiled and eloquently blurted out: "Merci -- uh.. Au Rev-- uh... uh... uh... BONJOUR!" She was rather embarrassed but he gave her a warm smile and returned the greeting.
I don't know why that keeps happening to us! It's like our brains say, "Oh, time to say something that isn't English now" and before we know it we're muttering "Scusi" in a thick Italian accent, or we are thanking our waiter with a hearty: "Danke Schön!" <sigh>
I memorized a few important phrases before moving here, like "Parlez-vous anglaise?" (Do you speak English?) I've got this one down cold and have used it almost every day. But when a workman came to our hotel room the other day and started jabbering at me in French I blurted out, "Voulez-vous anglaise?" which means, "Want english?" I guess that's pretty close, but he gave me a bemused incredulous look, like I had a monkey flying out of my butt.
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| Imagine the look on your face if you saw this guy emerging from my behind |
We have a LOT to learn.
Ahahahaha XD
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