|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
Thought I'd post this winning piece of writing (200 words) which borrows as many words as possible from French, German and Spanish. I'm sure many of you would fancy you'd do pretty well, in all liklihood with a tendancy to use one language more than the others, as is the case below. Anyway, it reads like this:
My lover went en famille to the Mardi Gras fiesta, cancelling our restaurant rendezvous, tete-a-tete a deux. As the maitre d'hote and chef discussed the a la carte menu, my cafe au lait petit-four and eclair lay untouched on the balsa patio table.
He is my raison-d'etre, my confidant. A dancer par excellence, his tango a tour de force, the rumba his piece de resistance. A raconteur with bonhomie, bon-vivant with savoir faire. We visited cafes, bistros and delicatessen, exploring tapas and nouvelle cuisine. He bought me lingerie (ecru brassiere), a cerise poncho (fashion faux pas), eau de toilette and papier mache object d'art (how outre!)
A chauffeur driven entrepreneur, he sells pretzels and pumpernickel, clothes a la mode (never pret-a-porter!). He predicts the Zeitgeist, is au fait with ballet, apres-ski, croquet and salsa. He breeds dachshunds, chihuahua and iguana.
A chauvinist roue, he loves risque double entendre, yet I ended up au natruel at his pied-a-terre - j'accuse the cognac and liquer.
Was I a femme fatale - a paramour, coquette? Or a naive kindergarten child? My ersatz amour is kaput, my joie de vivre and amour-propre gone. Au revoir France, croissants and crepes. Manana England.
Lesley Kelly, 2002
Please excuse that the dialectic, er, diacritic markings are missing - I could be bothered with them - they couldn't be bothered with me.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Viva Europanto!! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
Nice one BY!
I sent this to my Walloon girlfriend yesterday and she loved it! i don't think she had any idea that we used so much French (not to mention Spanish and German) in our everyday speech. And she was telling me the other day how difficult English is to speak!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Did you write this, by? What did you win? Query: would roue by any chance have meant rogue?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
No, Jackie. A Roue is a lecherous, dissipated man. Obviously you haven't met too many of them!! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, I didn't see how a he could be a sauce. And no, Dearest Rubrick, I haven't met you yet!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
Hey, just call me Rouebrick! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Hey, just call me Rouebrick! And all this time, I'd thought that a Ruebrick was the cobblestone used in paving french streets! [rueful smile ]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> Did you write this, by?
No, sorry if I didn't make that clear enough - I don't want to take any credit - except for posting it :-) I wrote the name of the author under the piece (now in bold), I merely copied it (fairly poorly) from the paper that awarded this lady with the prize. If I'd done it I'd have opted for a male narrator to start with, not to mention far more German loan words!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
"Eager young lads/and roues and cads/will offer you food and wine!"
Sixteen Going On Seventeen, The Sound of Music
FWIW ~
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,357
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
1 members (wofahulicodoc),
595
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
