Mis-heard

Last night I was treated to some impromptu haiku...a result of me mis-pronouncing or them mis-hearing my comment on "maudlin' poetry" -- I'm assuming it was the latter.

"Modeling poetry?!?"

Walking down the runway,
wearing nothing but fur --
shouldn't I be warmer?

or

Four inch heels
one month's salary --
no wonder I don't eat.

What can you come up with?

Lori

Oh FSM, Help me in this new addiction!

Okay. It's official. I'm a geek.

I get addicted to something on the Internet, and is it something cool, like a game? Seedy, like porn? Edgy, like YouTube?

No. I go to geeksville -- or language geek heaven, depending on your 'take'.

Wordreference.com is a great dictionary reference tool.

And the forums! Lord, love a duck! I've been immersed there for 3 freakin' hours!

Was sent the link to the dictionary by a business associate. Used it a bit, but really got into it yesterday, when I spent most of the afternoon just reading a few articles in French, studying on government time (it's encouraged!). Then I decided to try my hand at translating one of the articles, got stumped on a turn of phrase, posted it on the forum...and haven't looked back!

No computer time for me tomorrow -- unless it's to write my reviews.

Will do laundry instead.

Lori

Fun Words

Ran across a great word today, en français.

un vide-grenier, or a garage sale (or yard sale, or car boot sale, depending on your dialect)...literally an 'empty attic'.

Very cool. Descriptive (a directive almost, one might say), rather than, uh, locational.

Another great turn of (international) phrase that's always been a favourite of mine is dar a luz, Spanish for 'give birth' ...literally, to 'give to the light'.

Any out there for you folks?

Lori

Time to upgrade my French!!

'Tis time! I work for the Government of Canada, and I happened to mention to my supervisor today that I would be interested in upgrading/testing my French...

5 minutes later, I'm asked "How would you like to handle this agreement?" My co-worker says, "Hey, isn't that one in French?!?"

Gulp.

Okay, I'll be honest. I don't mind, really, because I need extrinsic motivation to learn a language.

Like, being dumped headfirst into a situation where I need it. Kindergarten at a French Catholic school. High school in Brazil.

A French agreement at work.

Just don't forget to test me for my bilingual pay increase -- soon!

Lori