It doesn't make sense
I was over in Italy the other day and I saw this guy wandering around the streets in bright orange pants and a bright orange shirt. I gave him a quick glance, thinking that he looked quite stylish and continued on my way...
... a little while later I was thinking about this sighting and it occurred to me that if I had seen that exact same guy wandering around the streets of London, or particularly wandering around the streets anywhere in Australia, instead of thinking that he looked quite stylish I probably would have thought that he was some sort of nutter!
Why is that so? Why is it that you can get away with wearing particular clothing in some countries that you would never even contemplate somewhere else? I mean, it's not as if Australia and Italy are totally different cultures. In fact they're very similar.
I guess that it has something to do with the surroundings. When everyone else around you is dressed in similarly bright colours, when the sun is constantly shining and the countryside is scattered with a rainbow of different hues, you feel quite at home dressed head to toe in bright orange.
There should be warnings!
Good day faithful readers. As of today I’ve become strongly of the opinion that all mediums via which people learn French (eg. text books) should come complete with a warning… USE WITH EXTREME CARE! Now before you start wondering where I’m heading with this, I’ll tell you right now that it’s not because it causes it all women that you speak to go all weak at the knees. Rather, because it’s likely to get you slapped!
I wrote an email to one of my French friends the other day, in French, saying that I would take her a particular restaurant. To convey this message I used the verb “prendre”, which means “to take”. In response to this message she explained that this wasn’t the usual way to ask someone to a restaurant, but didn’t elaborate further.
Being the inquisitive sort of person that I am I asked what the correct way to ask was, and why the form that I had used was incorrect.
Apparently, in case you ever want to know, the correct way to tell someone that you will take them to a restaurant is “je passe te prendre au restaurant”. If, like me, you say “je te prend au restaurant” it’s probably not going to end well, because what you’re suggesting is that you would like to have sex with the person at the restaurant. Even if she likes the idea, I doubt your local restaurateur is going to appreciate your antics!
I was over in Italy the other day and I saw this guy wandering around the streets in bright orange pants and a bright orange shirt. I gave him a quick glance, thinking that he looked quite stylish and continued on my way...
