1423
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] mellowheat@suppo.fi 96 points 9 months ago

"Je voudrais un baguette" I once asked in a parisian boulangerie. I don't think anyone has looked at me with the same level of disgust before as the older lady selling the breads.

"Voilà, une baguette.", the "une" flying through me like an icicle.

[-] Stamets@lemmy.world 84 points 9 months ago

"Stupid fucking foreigner thinking my bread has a dick..."

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 13 points 9 months ago

Tucke Carlso liked your comment

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 months ago

Why does he look like someone just shoved a vacuum hose up his ass and turned on the vacuum.

[-] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 42 points 9 months ago

I remember standing in line for crepes in Le Havre, I just had my first year of French in school and I was practicing how to order in my head, nervously repeating "un crepe avec sucre", and killed myself over not remembering the gender of crepe. So it's finally my turn in line and I order nervously (I am 13 years old) and they reply with "pancake with sugar, no problem" and I'm just like 😭

Somehow people not even giving you a chance to practice your language skills is awful

[-] Deway@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

Damn French, une crêpe and a pancake are not the same thing!

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

"Jay parlay France-says tray bee-en! Jaytude France-says pour treys anss in laycole!"

I was in Quebec, and the locals kept trying to talk to me in French. I can technically understand French, but not at those speeds. I only had to say that phrase once to anyone, and they immediately switched to English and begged me to not speak French again. If you sound like Peggy Hill attempting to speak French, then you've nailed this phrase.

[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 5 points 9 months ago

Québécois is a whole other can of worms.

[-] Taniwha420@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Seriously. It's pretty discouraging and off-putting. Although, when I was in the Aquitaine I don't think I got any of that.

... Maybe it's because they remember being under English management and don't want to give anyone an excuse?

I do find the French have very little ability to understand their language if it's getting mangled.

[-] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

I think it's just taking the easy, accommodating and safe route mostly.

A friend of mine taught himself German for years (he lives in Canada) and then, eager to put his knowledge into practice, went to Germany for three weeks. Whenever he attempted to speak German, people would reply in English - out of niceness.

He was so depressed and discouraged, he went home, vowed to never speak German again, taught himself Russian, went to Russia for a semester, people there were happy to speak Russian with him. He even met his future wife there, so it's a happy end I guess.

I don't remember if I ever heard him speak German (after all, he vowed and was still very hurt), but if his German was just half as good as his Russian, he should have had no problem with being understood.

James, in case you read this, St. Petersburg was freaking awesome and you freaking rock.

[-] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 15 points 9 months ago

Baguettes are distinctly penis shaped, so the French are just wrong about that.

[-] Spoilt@jlai.lu 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)
[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Not in itself but it is another data point for the theory. I suggest testing in controlled conditions many times despite it being a pain in the ass.

[-] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago

Ah the double entendre! Nicely done lol

[-] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Just wait to learn how we gender "dick" and "cunt" in French (hint: it's not the way you'd think).

It's the one thing people who aren't fluent in a gendered language usually fail to grasp: Grammatical gender is in most situations completely separate from social gender. The grammatical gender in "une bite" has absolutely no social function and is not in any way contradictory to its traditionally opposite social gender.

Ironically it's also why using the wrong grammatical gender feels so wrong/unnatural to a native speaker (not that it's an excuse to be a dick to non-native speakers ofc): gender is not just "a social concept attached to a word", it is an inherent property of the word that matters fundamentally to sentence structure and so misusing it throws everything off-balance. Francophones will much sooner accept someone close to them being trans than baguettes being male, and this is not a hyperbole.

[-] casmael@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago

Assigning gender to words is fucking stupid and adds unnecessary extra complexity to the language without any gaining any additional meaning. Personally I have no time for it.

[-] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 4 points 9 months ago

My solution is replacing all les/la/l' with a vaguely sounding "ll" sound.

I get the odd scathing look.
And occasionally someone will stop the conversation, and ask me to use the correct word, fully away of the shit I'm trying to pull.

[-] neutron@thelemmy.club 2 points 9 months ago

The old lady was a huge asshole. That's the problem. And being in Paris.

this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
1423 points (97.3% liked)

Lemmy Shitpost

26837 readers
3206 users here now

Welcome to Lemmy Shitpost. Here you can shitpost to your hearts content.

Anything and everything goes. Memes, Jokes, Vents and Banter. Though we still have to comply with lemmy.world instance rules. So behave!


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means:

-No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...

If you see content that is a breach of the rules, please flag and report the comment and a moderator will take action where they can.


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Memes

2.Lemmy Review

3.Mildly Infuriating

4.Lemmy Be Wholesome

5.No Stupid Questions

6.You Should Know

7.Comedy Heaven

8.Credible Defense

9.Ten Forward

10.LinuxMemes (Linux themed memes)


Reach out to

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules. Striker

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS