Dear Strange People
May. 13th, 2004 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_rainetteDear Inhabitants of the New Continent,
Please bear in mind we are new to this place, and as such, occasionally struggling to understand what's going on around us.
Although I do believe my command of English is adequate in Real Life, I cannot deal, on top of that, with Internet linguae in all its intricacies and without a handbook, although I do my best.
Also, please remember that the French are great borrowers of English words, but may associate a slightly different meaning to them. Cultural differences, see. Should I include a full explanation of every word whenever I write anything? Or just go back to writing in French? Because, honestly, here I am writing in English and it is the same old song: whenever I see a keyboard, the tiny lecherous leprechaun waiting in a dark corner of my brain takes over and vrooom. I instantaneously become verbally incontinent. Point is, said leprechaun is also less competent in English than in French. But just as talktative. Bugger.
And please note that while I can yell "Hors jeu!" at any soccer game before the referee fumbles his whistle up to his mouth, I have no idea why everyone suddenly starts running on a baseball field after the guy who holds the bat (batter? bat-guy? batman? ooof, probably not) hits the ball.
Meilleures Salutations,
La Rainette.
PS: The word tennis is a good example of, well, tennis-like word exchange between France and England. It comes from the French jeu de paume, a long forgotten game, where you yelled: tenez!, went over to England where it became tennis (the sport), then back to France, as tennis (the sport).
Please bear in mind we are new to this place, and as such, occasionally struggling to understand what's going on around us.
Although I do believe my command of English is adequate in Real Life, I cannot deal, on top of that, with Internet linguae in all its intricacies and without a handbook, although I do my best.
Also, please remember that the French are great borrowers of English words, but may associate a slightly different meaning to them. Cultural differences, see. Should I include a full explanation of every word whenever I write anything? Or just go back to writing in French? Because, honestly, here I am writing in English and it is the same old song: whenever I see a keyboard, the tiny lecherous leprechaun waiting in a dark corner of my brain takes over and vrooom. I instantaneously become verbally incontinent. Point is, said leprechaun is also less competent in English than in French. But just as talktative. Bugger.
And please note that while I can yell "Hors jeu!" at any soccer game before the referee fumbles his whistle up to his mouth, I have no idea why everyone suddenly starts running on a baseball field after the guy who holds the bat (batter? bat-guy? batman? ooof, probably not) hits the ball.
Meilleures Salutations,
La Rainette.
PS: The word tennis is a good example of, well, tennis-like word exchange between France and England. It comes from the French jeu de paume, a long forgotten game, where you yelled: tenez!, went over to England where it became tennis (the sport), then back to France, as tennis (the sport).
