French 1
We did something new tonight: French class.
It’s sort of like going to Paris for the evening and sitting in a simple classroom at a suburban community college with a bunch of Americans. And no food or wine. (There was a wine-tasting class taking place next door at the time, though.)
First we stopped at the bookstore. We had decided that we’d get two copies of the book if it was $30 or less, and otherwise we could share one copy. the book was $95.
When class started, we all filled out nametags. Now, I’ve commented before on how everyone in France calls me “doog.” Well, the instructor told me that’s how to pronounce Doug in French. She even has me doing it: “je m’appelle Doog!” So Jean, if you’re reading this, sorry about correcting you on that one. 
After class, we stopped at Applebee’s for some practice. While Megan diligently practiced her irregular verbs, I created mostrosities like “je ne c’est pas un omelette” or tried to figure out how to say “you make my pantaloons blue” but I think the closest I got was “vous êtes le jeans bleu” which is something like “you are blue jeans” or “you are the blue John” or something like that. Leave the ordering to me at these fancy restaurants from now on, Babe, I’ve got this covered.
But seriously, my advice is: take French, guys. It’s a great stress-free way to unwind after work. And your wife will dig it too, because you can say romantic stuff like “je suis éveillé et vous êtes beau, mais dans une heure je dormirai.”
It’s like poetry, that French. Sweet, hot, country acid house music poetry.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 11:32 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on January 24, 2007 at 6:28 am Scott wrote:
“Sweet, hot, country acid house music poetry”
…and a hypo full of D. Wayne love.
on January 24, 2007 at 8:41 am Doug wrote:
“Step one, you gotta consider yourself completely powerless under me, D. Wayne …”
(For those not in on the joke, you really should get a CD or three from the band A3.)
on January 24, 2007 at 11:35 am tracy wrote:
je suis tres content que vous apprendez le francais. nous pendons practicer ensemble. avec le vin bien sur.
aurevoir mes amis!
on January 24, 2007 at 11:41 am AUNT MARSHA wrote:
hi, doog.
sorry I couldn’t find the stuff you wanted me to see…had deleted your email and now can’t navigate…
I read a bunch of stuff about XML that I didn’t understand, but saw no controversy such as you described.
Was it the IBM/XML stuff? Where are the 100 comments?
on January 24, 2007 at 4:40 pm Doug wrote:
Tracy, that sounds great. For our monolingual friends, here’s what Tracy said: “I am happy tres that you learn the francais. let us hang us practicer together. with the wine well on.” Or something like that.
Marsha, it’s everywhere, this crazy story. Check out the comments on my work blog and you can follow from there. Hey, if you see a story in the Atlanta paper on Wikipedia and Microsoft, can you save it for my scrapbook?
on January 24, 2007 at 5:41 pm tracy wrote:
i think i meant “nous pouvons”. or “nous prendons”. or “nous poupons”. something like that. it’s been a long time, doog, since i sat dans la classe de francais. i say the three of us annoy everyone on saturday night and speak only french.
or not.
on January 24, 2007 at 8:33 pm Megan wrote:
Le Fishbauch aime le francais.
I’ve been talking to him about les crayons, les stylos, etc.
He doesn’t seem to get it about not puking on le tapis.
on January 24, 2007 at 8:39 pm Megan wrote:
Also, Doog, I think what you should probably say to me is something like “tu es belle” rather than “vous etes beau”.
on January 25, 2007 at 7:40 am Doug wrote:
Well, you know how formal I can be sometimes.
on February 12, 2007 at 7:20 pm Michell wrote:
Watashiwa nihongoga skoshi wakarimas.
Okay, it’s not French, but am I still teaching myself Japanese. (It means “I know a little Japanese” … I think!)
I hope you get a chance to go back to France soon and put your skills to the test.