Irritated or not?

[Evianers]

Oh no! Just come back from a week in LBF and couldn't believe how irritated I was to hear the French language spoken all round us. This came as a terrible shock as we are due to move there finally in six months time. OH was appalled at this revelation [I do most of the talking as my French is more fluent than his]. Hope I was just having a bad hair week and this is not a permanent problem. Anyone else suffered the same sort of thing [hope not]. Please, all answers good or bad, positive or negative - never know, it might help. Let's hope it was a passing phase.

[Cassis]

You are not alone.  Many people are taken aback by how un-British parts of France can be.  I am told that the French in some areas do this (speak French) with the express purpose of irritating English speaking visitors. 

You will find this is much less of a problem in Spanish coastal areas, if it's not too late to change your plans.

[Will]

Yes, I know how you feel. I just saw an advertisement on another forum, somebody looking for French lessons around Sourdeval (50). They will be hard pushed, I don't think there can be hardly any French speakers left round there. The local depot de vente is being offered for sale to English buyers in the current Living France magazine, which must prove how successful has been the invasion. Unfortunately there are a few places left in the area where even the English have to speak French.[6][;-)][;-)]

[powerdesal]

Once upon a time we would have taken it back at sword point ( plus arrows), now we have to BUY it back, its just not on!!!![:@]

[Cassis]

Quite.  Two fingers to the King of France.  Or something.

[jamesg]

We had exactly the same problem when we lived in North Wales.   Annoying the English is a popular hobby there too.   Visotors used to say that they switched into Welsh when they saw an English persion approaching.   Maybe that's what happens here in France.

[6]

[Cassis]

[quote user="Will "]Yes, I know how you feel. I just saw an advertisement on another forum, somebody looking for French lessons around Sourdeval (50). [/quote]

Was this a French person looking for lessons?  A bit like a Cornishman looking for lessons in Pasty or whatever the language of SW England is called?

[Cassis]

[quote user="jamesg"]We had exactly the same problem when we lived in North Wales.   Annoying the English is a popular hobby there too.   Visotors used to say that they switched into Welsh when they saw an English persion approaching.   Maybe that's what happens here in France.

[6]

[/quote]

I was tempted to say something along those lines, but knowing the number of people who are brazenly open about their Welshness on this forum I thought it unwise.

[Mark]

The language of SW England is Bristol Channel English.  A bit like Estuary English but with lots more rrrrrr's.

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

 

[powerdesal]

That reminds me of 'Come home to a real fire - buy a cottage in Wales'

The Viet-taff seem to have died out a bit now though.

[Cassis]

[quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[Mark]

Right, cos I was thinking that you're bound to hear French in France aren't you cos it's France?  Do you all think they should speak English just cos we do or something?  Jeez, political incorrectness gone mad OR WHAT??

Where's Egger....

[Cassis]

Mark - is the reason you are stopping off in the Vendee en route to the Pyrenees (not long now, is it?) so as to avoid all the gas in your blood boiling as you plunge southwards - like a diver avoiding the bends?

[Cassis]

[quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[Mark]

Thirteen days!!!  Just having a bit of excitement-induced post-ironic irony fun!  Sorry....[Www]

[Mark]

[quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.
[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.
[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[Dick Smith]

I think you are imagining it. When I was in France in the summer I didn't heard anybody speaking French.

[Mark]

[quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.
[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.
[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[Cassis]

Sorry.  Thought your brain might have been overheating with the imminent upheaval.  Doh!

[Cassis]

[quote user="Mark"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[/quote]

So if we keep doing this will we disappear into a vortex and emerge in an alternative universe?  There's definitely something happening because Dick's spelling and/or grammar is starting to diverge from its normal parameters. "I didn't heard anybody" - doesn't sound like something Dick in our universe would say, does it?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[/quote]

So

if we keep doing this will we disappear into a vortex and emerge in an

alternative universe?  There's definitely something happening

because Dick's spelling and/or grammar is starting to diverge from its

normal parameters. "I didn't heard anybody" - doesn't sound like

something Dick in our universe would say, does it?

[/quote]

I''m willing to try if you guys are.

It can be quite bad around here too - I had to speak French to the

plumber only this afternoon. And when I go and try and teach the

ingrates at the school better English ('cos I know that they can

speak it really) they quite frequently torment me by requesting

instrctions in French or saying "zee" instead of "the." Little sods.

[Cassis]

[quote user="Jon D"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[/quote]

So

if we keep doing this will we disappear into a vortex and emerge in an

alternative universe?  There's definitely something happening

because Dick's spelling and/or grammar is starting to diverge from its

normal parameters. "I didn't heard anybody" - doesn't sound like

something Dick in our universe would say, does it?

[/quote]

I''m willing to try if you guys are.

It can be quite bad around here too - I had to speak French to the

plumber only this afternoon. And when I go and try and teach the

ingrates at the school better English ('cos I know that they can

speak it really) they quite frequently torment me by requesting

instrctions in French or saying "zee" instead of "the." Little sods.

[/quote]

Judith started from a French language base of zero.  Now she has mastered the basics and can go shopping etc. sans chaperone.  Having got to this stage, the baker's wife suddenly asks Jude one morning if she will give her conversation sessions to perfect her English.  So you see, soon there will be one less French speaker in the village.  I have no idea how the other Ancinnois are going to manage to buy their bread and cakes once Karine (the baker's wife) has mastered English and abandons her mother tongue altogether.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Jon D"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[/quote]

So

if we keep doing this will we disappear into a vortex and emerge in an

alternative universe?  There's definitely something happening

because Dick's spelling and/or grammar is starting to diverge from its

normal parameters. "I didn't heard anybody" - doesn't sound like

something Dick in our universe would say, does it?

[/quote]

I''m willing to try if you guys are.

It can be quite bad around here too - I had to speak French to the

plumber only this afternoon. And when I go and try and teach the

ingrates at the school better English ('cos I know that they can

speak it really) they quite frequently torment me by requesting

instrctions in French or saying "zee" instead of "the." Little sods.

[/quote]

Judith started from a French language base of zero.  Now she has mastered the basics and can go shopping etc. sans chaperone.  Having got to this stage, the baker's wife suddenly asks Jude one morning if she will give her conversation sessions to perfect her English.  So you see, soon there will be one less French speaker in the village.  I have no idea how the other Ancinnois are going to manage to buy their bread and cakes once Karine (the baker's wife) has mastered English and abandons her mother tongue altogether.

[/quote]

But surely, following the convoluted logic of this thread, the other Ancinnois actually all speak English and are only speaking to Karine in French because they realise she is the non-English speaker. When she speaks English they will not need to speak French and you will all need another 'token French speaker' non?

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Jon D"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Mark"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Cassis"][quote user="Mark"]

Am I right in thinking that the majority of this thread is i-r-o-n-i-c?

[/quote]

No.  This is a serious discussion.

[/quote]

PS - I was being ironoc. 

PPS - That's the Breton spelling.

[/quote]

I know!  Just because I'm rubbish at sending emails doesn't mean I'm entirely stupid you know[;-)]...

 

[/quote]

If you do enough quotes of quotes of quotes a nice tunnel effect starts to develop.

[/quote]

So

if we keep doing this will we disappear into a vortex and emerge in an

alternative universe?  There's definitely something happening

because Dick's spelling and/or grammar is starting to diverge from its

normal parameters. "I didn't heard anybody" - doesn't sound like

something Dick in our universe would say, does it?

[/quote]

I''m willing to try if you guys are.

It can be quite bad around here too - I had to speak French to the

plumber only this afternoon. And when I go and try and teach the

ingrates at the school better English ('cos I know that they can

speak it really) they quite frequently torment me by requesting

instrctions in French or saying "zee" instead of "the." Little sods.

[/quote]

Judith started from a French language base of zero.  Now she has mastered the basics and can go shopping etc. sans chaperone.  Having got to this stage, the baker's wife suddenly asks Jude one morning if she will give her conversation sessions to perfect her English.  So you see, soon there will be one less French speaker in the village.  I have no idea how the other Ancinnois are going to manage to buy their bread and cakes once Karine (the baker's wife) has mastered English and abandons her mother tongue altogether.

[/quote]

But surely, following the convoluted logic of this thread, the other Ancinnois actually all speak English and are only speaking to Karine in French because they realise she is the non-English speaker. When she speaks English they will not need to speak French and you will all need another 'token French speaker' non?

[/quote]

I've got sore feet.

[powerdesal]

Is there a pattern here - Mark, Cassis, Cassis, Mark, Mark,Cassis, JohnD, Cassis,Powerdesal, Dick. If so, what is the next name in the series?

Edit. Damn, I forgot to press 'quote'