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[quote user="cooperlola"]

I guess I'm just not mad about the idea that somebody who doesn't know me thinks they know what goes on in my head better than I do.

[/quote]

Well put!

I thought that this thread was started by the OP to ask people what "home" meant to them, not to call others dishonest who do not align with your personal view of home.

Faites-vous comme chez vous!

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[quote user="redkite"]Tegwini, read my post. That's not what I said. I said they had 'an attachment'. The same way as the US has 'an attachment' to the UK, and New York has 'an attachment' to the Irish.[/quote]

Yes you originally said they had an 'attachement' (sic) but they didn't have even that, and since many of them were not even from Holland they did not, and the decades, and centuries went by and any relationship - or whatever vanished.

Tegwini

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And while we are on the subject I have yet to find a way in French to differentiate between house and home, i.e. "I feel more at home here than at my house" or "I have a house in England but my home is here" or "I live in France but I will always look at England as my home"

I hope that I am incorrect in my belief that the concept of home does not exist in France and look forward to learning how to express it.

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I always remember my sister (who has lived in France for over 40 years) telling me that in her experience the French do not 'do cosy'- meaning that they have a more utilitarian view of the home - unlike the Brits, who tend to make their houses more warm, comfortable and welcoming.

Mind you, you'd have to go to the ends of the earth to find any word better for the longing of home than the Welsh 'Hiraeth' which no translation can do ever do justice.
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Perhaps that is why I find it hard to relate with your view of home as I have never had or felt a longing for home.

I am home (Picardy) at the moment and making the most of it but I have never ever felt such a strong longing to be somewhere/anywhere else [:)]

Maybe one day I will find my real home but I doubt that it will have anything to do with family or native tongue

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[quote user="tegwini"][quote user="redkite"]Tegwini, read my post. That's not what I said. I said they had 'an attachment'. The same way as the US has 'an attachment' to the UK, and New York has 'an attachment' to the Irish.[/quote]

Yes you originally said they had an 'attachement' (sic) but they didn't have even that, and since many of them were not even from Holland they did not, and the decades, and centuries went by and any relationship - or whatever vanished.

Tegwini

[/quote]

I'm no historian Tegwini and certainly have little interest in a people that adopted and promoted racial superiority and slavery but, I did read somewhere of Dutch proposals to mediate between Britain and the Boers and that was what, a nudge over 100 years ago which would suggest....?
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[quote user="redkite"][quote user="tegwini"][quote user="redkite"]Tegwini, read my post. That's not what I said. I said they had 'an attachment'. The same way as the US has 'an attachment' to the UK, and New York has 'an attachment' to the Irish.[/quote]

Yes you originally said they had an 'attachement' (sic) but they didn't have even that, and since many of them were not even from Holland they did not, and the decades, and centuries went by and any relationship - or whatever vanished.

Tegwini

[/quote]

I'm no historian Tegwini and certainly have little interest in a people that adopted and promoted racial superiority and slavery but, I did read somewhere of Dutch proposals to mediate between Britain and the Boers and that was what, a nudge over 100 years ago which would suggest....?[/quote]

Suggests little to me, and drifting off again. Your latter comments also irrelevant - and expected too.

Shall we quote:   "He who is without sin among you..."

Tegwini

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Yes, Richard, it always surprises me how wide-ranging some of these topics end up being. Emotions are aroused that are very unexpected. Maybe some of us take things so to heart that views must be expressed at all costs, others may feel equally as deeply but  express things differently, or not at all on a forum. Whatever the topic nobody will agree on all points, or even on many. But I feel uneasy when people feel under attack on here; for me it's a support network and a friendly place to come; especially at the moment the insomniacs' posts - always interesting, supportive and raises a smile.

I've thought a lot about your 'home' topic recently. For me home is still where we are settled at the time; we're in UK now, and that's certainly home. But when we are in France, that's also definitely home; we don't need time to settle in at either place. We spend almost equal time in each, spend time doing similar things in each, and also very diferent things in each.

GG

 

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Yes, this has been an interesting discussion, Richard, I agree. 

I'm also glad to see that Redkite is now a convert.  Way back on page 4 s/he told me that my husband and animals (those in the world I really love) did not constitute my  home, but it was where I was raised (that could be Lancashire (one of 3 houses), Yorkshire (one of 3 houses) Malta (one of 2 flats) or Sussex (1 flat)).  Now it's good to see, RK, that you concede that as my little fermette in the Sarthe, where the one I love is, is home.[:)]

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All getting a little too warm and cosy so lets stir things up again.

Does watching Sky instead of French TV say anything about where home really is?

What about posing news links about the politics/political correctness etc of the UK?

Or even reading them? (guilty m'lud)

Or is all of that just remaining English and caring for the country even though it is no longer home?

When I move from France to another country I doubt that I will be as drawn to news items about France as much as England however even now I try to keep in touch with the news of the countries of the :region that I would like to move to next.

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Well, I think (could be wrong) that I find these fora fun because I speak French most of the day and so it's nice to chat (well, ok, write) in my native tongue to somebody other than my o/h. 

As to the TV, I'm sorry, but I still think UK and US TV knock the French channels into a cocked hat.  Their news coverage is far less broad than ours for a start.  But honestly, I reckon I learn more about current affairs from the Daily Show than anywhere else..[Www]

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[quote user="cooperlola"]

Yes, this has been an interesting discussion, Richard, I agree. 

I'm also glad to see that Redkite is now a convert.  Way back on page 4 s/he told me that my husband and animals (those in the world I really love) did not constitute my  home, but it was where I was raised (that could be Lancashire (one of 3 houses), Yorkshire (one of 3 houses) Malta (one of 2 flats) or Sussex (1 flat)).  Now it's good to see, RK, that you concede that as my little fermette in the Sarthe, where the one I love is, is home.[:)]

[/quote] Did I say that? And it's he :-)
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Me too Cooperlola, I am losing my spoken and written English at a rapid rate and but for this forum I would rarely if ever write (OK type) anything in English.

I switched to French TV 100% about 30 months ago, I did have both but then the Skybox bust so there was no sneaking back [:)]

I remember during the first couple of years (the honeymoon period) arguing that French TV was better but that most people did not watch enough (or even any) of it to make a valid comparison.

Now I retract that view, I only spend a couple of weeks per year at most in the UK and have just returned from my last visit and I really enjoyed the television especially some of the dramas and drama series and found myself saying "why doesnt French TV make programs like this"?

Mind you there is also a load of rubbish and you have to search out the jewels, I usually watch a couple of Jeremy Kyle shows to boost my spirit but any more than that would become depressing, I also watched X Factor to see just what it was that you were all recently posting about and guess what? French TV has suddenly become more atractive!

I guess TV it is about like my moving to France, at first anything new and different is enjoyable but it eventually becomes mundane.

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[quote user="redkite"][quote user="cooperlola"]

Yes, this has been an interesting discussion, Richard, I agree. 

I'm also glad to see that Redkite is now a convert.  Way back on page 4 s/he told me that my husband and animals (those in the world I really love) did not constitute my  home, but it was where I was raised (that could be Lancashire (one of 3 houses), Yorkshire (one of 3 houses) Malta (one of 2 flats) or Sussex (1 flat)).  Now it's good to see, RK, that you concede that as my little fermette in the Sarthe, where the one I love is, is home.[:)]

[/quote] Did I say that? And it's he :-)[/quote]Well, this is how you responded to an earlier post of mine:

"Home is more than bricks n timber, more than where we left our shoes, more than being somewhere warm and more than where hubby is. It's where we were raised, it's where we spoke the language of the hearth"

Of course, I may well have misinterpreted your intent. 

By page 10 you were happy with your daughter's definition, which pretty much aligns with mine:

"'When you are with the one you love, anywhere is home'

Pretty good eh? "

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I can't speak for myself on the UK v France divide as we don't live in France full-time and whilst we say we are 'going home' meaning going back to our French house while we are in France, it is only in the way you would say going home - meaning returning to the hotel, apartment, base etc when you are on holiday.  Strangely though, our neighbours always say to us 'welcome home' when we arrive in France.

From the experience of friends of ours who emigrated to Canada nearly thirty years ago, Canada only became home for both of them (as in the place that had more ties than any other) when their children married Canadians and the grandchildren arrived.  Until that point they returned to the UK every year and intermittently talked about being 'homesick' and returning to the UK permanently. 

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[quote user="cooperlola"]

As to the TV, I'm sorry, but I still think UK and US TV knock the French channels into a cocked hat.  Their news coverage is far less broad than ours for a start.  But honestly, I reckon I learn more about current affairs from the Daily Show than anywhere else..[Www]

[/quote]

Oh, Coops, you do surprise me:  how can you stand that dreadful woman presenter?  I don't even let my OH watch it when I'm in the room.  Her voice irritates me so much that I either have to switch channels or throw a tantrum/the box out the window.

There are often good things to watch on Fr3 and we are regularly glued to Arte late at night.

It's true, though what you and Chancer have said about forgetting your English.  I struggled with trying to remember "pragmatism" yesterday and I just couldn't quite get my tongue round it.  After several "oh, you know, it sounds like practical, it's a brand of politics, it definitely starts with the letter p"s etc. OH had to supply the word.

Mind you, English is only one of 2 or 3 languages that I have spoken from a young age so I don't know if my experience would apply to others.

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[quote user="gardengirl "]

I also have a problem thinking of words, Sweet, but I put it down to my age! I can often think of the French word, but that's not much use in UK! I can give definitions, as you mention, but the word eludes me - so frustrating!

GG

[/quote]

I couldn't remember what English was for porte fernetre!

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