Out in the "sticks" most French people are very kind to you when you try your best to speak French but in Paris I've found some (but not all) people can be a bit sniffy about their language. Not just with the English either.Interestingly enough, miel is also the French word for honey.
I took five years of French in school. Then I went to Paris and realized I must have learned some other language, because what they spoke in Paris bore no relation to the French I was taught.
Out in the "sticks" most French people are very kind to you when you try your best to speak French but in Paris I've found some (but not all) people can be a bit sniffy about their language. Not just with the English either.
On the other hand, I was sitting in a café one day when a cat wandered in and made a bee-line for me. I was making a fuss of it when the waiter came to take my order. We had a short conversation in French about the cat and he went off to get my order. When he came back he asked if I was Belgian and when I said I was English he looked astounded and said "But you can't be. The English don't speak French". I was quite flattered as my French is fairly basic despite 7 years and "A" level French at school.
With a new batch of chicks hatched, we were trying to figure out how to sex day-olds. I learned a new definition for eminence in the process (and will never be able to hear "His Eminence" ever again without thinking of how to tell a rooster from a hen...).
em•i•nence (ˈɛm ə nəns)
n.
1. high station, rank, or repute.
2. a high elevation; hill or height.
3. (cap.) a title of honor, applied to cardinals (usu. prec. by His or Your).
4. an anatomical projection, esp. on a bone.
[1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French < Latin]
The first time I went to Paris, I had 5 years of French, first with a teacher from Paris and then with a teacher who had lived in Paris. But, my French was so un-fluent, that the French were kind to me. They seemed to appreciate that I made the effort. The second time I went to Paris, my French was much better and the Parisians were mostly awful to me about my French.My sister took French in school also. But she was lucky in that she had a teacher from France. So she spoke Parisian French and her husband spoke Canuck French. Neither one could understand the other. And the arguments always started as to who spoke the right French.
I had to share
That's why she told you.Now I won't be able to think of His Eminence without a grin.