NormanH Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 No wonder the French don't always quite 'get' what we mean [:D][URL=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/bfb_album/media/CSWt3mPUsAAyuvH_zps3divpdt3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/CSWt3mPUsAAyuvH_zps3divpdt3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 What about "with the greatest respect" to mean you pathetic little berk, just shut up, with foreigners thinking what a nice person, they are respectful to me and they like what I am proposing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitfrench Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 That is fantastic. OH will love that. She might finally understand me. How do I print it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Right-click, copy image, paste into Word or similar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 The one that drives my neighbours crazy isEnglish: I'll meet you at 7pm for dinnerMeans: I'll meet you but it won't be until 7:10 at the earliest (fashionably late)Understood: He will be there a minute or 2 before 7 pm [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 So that means that ......... to be polite one must talk in a way to blur one's true feelings.[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 This, and several others, have been doing th rounds for a couple of years. Here's an unclickable link (*sigh) to my personal favouritehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/what-british-people-say-vs-what-they-mean#.ub3L65nz7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Surely it was not just the french (from all over France) that lived in my old region that were never ever ever on time!!!! The expression le quart d'heure savoyard which was supposedly to cover that lateness, which was often a demi-heure and the rest!!!! Could even be an hour.Fashionable........... mon oeil![Www]No wonder most french cooking is so easy and flexible and doesn't spoil when people never turn up on time. And it isn't just us english speakers, how often I have seen french people say something is lovely or good or nice and then the grimace as they look away.Just people, that is what they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Here we go by Languedoc time; never on time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal1000 Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I think one of the reasons that I never really got on in England, despite being English, is that I was never very good at column one. I used to go straight in with column 2 and upset people. I got on very well in Australia though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I should have mentioned that my neighbours are Luxembourgish and as such, have a built in atomic clock and are more anal about timekeeping than the Swiss! [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 So it seems that different parts of France have their own local version of à l'heure (ref to posts by id and GG).In my part of the Dordogne, it's called l'heure dordognaise which is roughly 20 minutes later than stated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 GG is right, it's often called le quart d'heure de midi here ... but often stretches to une demi heure ... Even in the north of France (we have French friends in 77), it happens - they told us that the stated time of arrival is the time at which French people leave the house, no matter how long it might take to get there! But it is not always true, one of our French friends is always avant l'heure, and I won't talk about about Swiss friends - on the dot, or even one minute before!Can be a nuisance if you are not quite ready for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 [quote user="Judith"]But it is not always true, one of our French friends is always avant l'heure, and I won't talk about about Swiss friends - on the dot, or even one minute before!Can be a nuisance if you are not quite ready for them![/quote]If we were early, we'd always sit in the car until it's time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaInFrance Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 You've got it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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