Happy Bastille Day! On this day in 1789 French commoners, inspired by the fledgling American democracy, stormed the Bastille prison, where they freed a handful of political prisoners and seized a supply of the government's armaments. Soon thereafter came the French Revolution and a constitutional democracy that quickly devolved into the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In honor of the occasion, I like to live French for a day, so I bought a French Toast Bagel for breakfast and endured poor customer service. I may have a cup of cafe au lait laiter.
Another good way of celebrating Bastille Day is by peppering your conversations with French phrases. "C'est la guerre (such is the war), pussycat" is from a cartoon and is often quoted by my friend Dave. Mr. Steve used to make me laugh with the world's greatest interjection, which just so happened to be French. If he doesn't post it, I will.
So please post your favorite French foods, phrases or peculiarities. Bon chance!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Both Inspiration and Cautionary Tale: Excerpts from Middling
What follows is an excerpt from the Winter 2021 edition of Middling, my quarterly newsletter on music, books, work, and getting older. I...
-
I've recently begun reading the collected novels and short stories of Sherlock Holmes as written by Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm a trend-... -
I've been moving slowly through How Music Works, the colossal tome by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, over the past few months. My ...
9 comments:
"Voulez-vous coucher . . ." Never mind.
Favorite French food? I don't know if it's really French, but it has a French name: There is a sandwich called a "Monte Cristo," which is usually served with what the French call, "American Fries." Mmmmm...tres bien!
Your blog posts went from Peace to War...Tres interresent, n'est-ce-pas?
From IMDB, because je parle un peu fancais:
Vincent: And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.
Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King.
Well, pardon Pete's french . . .
I can't believe I didn't think of that scene--I've never seen the movie all the way through, but I've seen that scene, and I actually heard the followup on the radio the other day:
BRAD: "Because of the metric system?"
VINCENT: "Whoah! Check out the big brain on Brad!"
Last call for Mr. Steve! Mr. Steve!
Sorry, totally let that one past...
C'est La guerre.
--pete
Game over, Mr. Steve.
And the best interjection ever is
. . .
"Nom de plume!"
I don't remember the quote from Better Off Dead verbatim, but this is close (I think)
"In honor of our French foreign exchange student, we're having an assortment of French foods. We have Fronch Bread, Fronch Fries, Fronch Dressing, and to drink, Peru!"
Har har:
"Do you have Christmas in France? [Grabs French girl by the lips} Cuhrissss musssss!"
umm . . . yeah. I don't recall ever saying that . . but perhaps you have me confused with another hipper, cooler, Mr. Steve.
I remember "Whoah nelly!" and even "Spooon!"
And no one even mentioned:
Zut alors, I have missed one!
Post a Comment