#23086 - 03/16/01 09:30 AM
On a slightly different note...
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stranger
Registered: 03/16/01
Posts: 1
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Do you know what is the only verb in the French language to not have a past tense (or so I am told)?
The verb "to guillotine".
You can see I will be guillotined, I am being guillotined, but you cannot see I was guillotined.
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#23087 - 11/22/01 10:22 AM
Re: On a slightly different note...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...
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I have no earthly idea of any truth in the above observation by zephyr, but I can imagine a French ghost saying that she was guillotined...
WW
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#23088 - 11/22/01 11:50 AM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653
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#23089 - 11/22/01 12:23 PM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...
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Just curious (as usual ad infinitum), when is the subjunctive necessary:
"I could imagine a French ghost saying she was guillotined"
or "I could imagine a French ghost saying she were guillotined"?
"I can imagine a French ghost saying she was guillotined"
or "I can imagine a French ghost saying she were guillotined..."
And, to complicate matters a bit further, should all of the above have at least, "I can imagine a French ghost's saying..." blah, blah, blah. I think that apostrophe is probably a better form...
Best regards,
WW
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#23090 - 11/22/01 12:53 PM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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It seems to me that the original post erred in saying "see" when "say" would make the joke. I have heard that a few persons promised to try to indicate their brain was still working after being separated from the neck. I think it was Lafayette who was said to have blinked right eye only a couple times. But he could not have said " I have been guillotined" .
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#23091 - 11/22/01 04:08 PM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...
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"I have a very little neck..." Anne of the Thousand Days...
It's documented somewhere exactly what she said. Hers is such a poignant tale, her personage brilliantly played by Geneviève Bujold... Edit: Grave error--Anne was beheaded; not guillotined. I need to make that correction here!
Still wondering about the subjunctive case?/mood?
WW
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#23093 - 11/23/01 06:53 PM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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" I was guillotined"
Dear Faldage: I think it possible that your misadventure involved "an instrument, working on a similar principle, as for cutting paper."
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#23095 - 11/23/01 07:21 PM
Re: On a slightly different note (d'oh!)...
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...
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Thank you, Faldage, for setting the mood.
So sorry you were guillotined. My "Four White Horses" thread was also guillotined, so I feel your pain.
Wishing you a speedy recovery,
DubDub
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