Come to think of it, I find it a bit strange that a French passport officer would say anything. Maybe welcome, if he is on a good mood. There are only three countries where a passport type has talked anything more than that: USA, where I had to go through a lengthy interrogation. Cuba, where the officer didn't first believe that the hotel I had booked was state-owned. Former USSR 20 years ago, where the officer just wanted to go through my French women's magazine and inspect every single lingerie ad.

LOL! Creflors! And you are forbidden to order penne in Italy!

Okay another Lost in Translation French story....

I ordered box lunches to-go for my husband (who doesn't speak French) and me at a busy cafe in Nice. While the girl assembled the lunches I walked away to a table to look at some treats.

Suddenly I heard a piercing girl's shriek that sounded like an alarm going off, " Eeeeee! Eeeeeee!.... pause... Eeeeeeee! Eeeeee!

I whirled around to see my husband standing frozen in front of the countergirl, his eyes pleading for my help. He had no idea how to turn the alarm off. As I rushed towards them I realized she was shouting at the top of her voice "Fweeee! Dweenk! Fweee!Dweenk!"

A free drink came with the lunch. She was asking him what he wanted in English and he had no idea what she was saying. The language game works both ways I guess. Even when they speak to us in English we still don't always know what they're saying.
; D ))))

kakalena

Hi, Scarlett! A bit too bad, you'll be way to the north of us! I'll raise my glass to you as you wing your way northward. Have a safe flight! :)

For all of you jumping all over got1tiel, "shaked" is perfectly acceptable instead of "shook" in some dialects of English (Yes! There are still dialects in English!). It's OK to say "He shaked his head" instead of "He shook his head". Kinda like some people say "You all (yawl)" meaning one person. Thank goodness there are still some variations in our speech patterns and usages!

Lighten up, everyone! So got1tiel is still not over the trauma of an incident of French snobbery, real or imagined, but I'll bet that customs controller is waaaay over the incident, since he is already stamping his 1,000,298 + 1 passport! :)

"Irregularities" aren't necessarily errors. The first time I heard an American say "he dove" instead of "he dived" I assumed a lack of familiarity with "proper English", not appreciating that it was an accepted national usage - possibly an archaic form no longer used in the rest of the English-speaking world. Same with "He spit" (past tense) vs "he spat".

Likewise, perhaps, the English insistence on the "will/shall" distinction - pretty much a declining regional oddity now, most English speakers being content with "will".

This is straying from the original topic, but since variations from "standard" English are under discussion, you might be interested in the latest news from the UK.

Apparently the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has decreed that applicants for a British passport must demonstrate proficiency in English. This includes Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Americans and South Africans. Already two Australians, one with two degrees and another who has resided in the UK for 44 years have been rejected. Here's a comment from Australia:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?oneclick=true

Perhaps Aussies who want to rejoin the poms will now have to take what an Australian friend of mine calls a "plum in the mouth course"!

laverndrye, how hurtful. I'd better start watching more TV shows featuring Scots/Geordie/Scouse characters so I can get the hang of this English business!

>.."shaked" is perfectly acceptable instead of "shook" in some dialects of English .....<

Would you mind telling me in which country?

>The first time I heard an American say "he dove" instead of "he dived" I assumed a lack of familiarity with "proper English",... <

I would have thought that the reverse was true. Your example is similar to "I drived the car....".

PS,

Shouldn't that be "done shaked"?

Didn't James Bond insist that his martinis be "shaked, not stirred?"

I thought he preferred them shooken.

Would those English speakers who use "shaked" instead of "shook" please stand up so ira can see you? Thanke ye! :)

English is very difficult for non-English speakers to learn because of its idiosyncrasies. Isn't the past tense of "to dive" conjugated as:

I dove
Thou dovest
He dived
We divened
You divened
They fell in

>Didn't James Bond insist that his >martinis be "shaked, not stirred?"

there you go raspberry7. Shaked. in Queens English. thanks rbrazil.

Sam

I'm not all shook up 'bout Mr. or Ms. Tiel's lack of apostrophes in contractions, either. No I'm not ;)

Having been a retail slave myself in Palo Alto (a.k.a. Shallow Alto) CA, we did have many non-Anglophone customers (including many French). It makes all the difference when both the potential customer & salesperson approach the situation with gentleness & give the transaction a lot of time. But imagine if you're a rushed civil servant -- or even a bakery counterperson -- and someone storms in, not knowing how to ask for bread in your native language . . . but demanding it in an unintelligible tongue . . . drama!

I am still in awe of our European friends' ability to converse in idiomatic English. And thanks to all of them for trying to help us poor, clueless travelers on this board!

ealing calling: very good point. my girl friend and i were in hawaii a few years ago and were heading into one of the hotels to check out a jewelry store..oh yea..shopping is so good!!! anyway, this elderly japanese couple approached us and started talking to us...they were asking something but it was in japanese!!!!!! i just panicked...i was totally helpless!!! i mean what the heck do you do? we kind of stared at each other for a few minutes and then kind of laughed...that embarasses kind of laugh..you know what i mean? and then they just smiled, bowed, and walked on...all i could do was shrug my shoulders. so..if none of you have ever experienced that kind of thing, try to imagine it and then think of the poor french guy...he doesn't speak english, he doesn't HAVE to speak english, he's french, he lives in france, he can talk to his friends just fine....he sees what is obviously a couple of americans approaching him and they look inquisitive..and he's thinking "oh mon dieu"!!!! these people are sure as shootin' going to ask me something...oh no, oh please, oh please....so you ask, he doesn't have a clue, he shrugs and walks past you and you think the poor guy is rude. i have often thought of that little japanese couple wandering around the huge grounds of that hotel....will they ever return, will they ever return...kind of like "Charlie on the MTA".

Oh, got1tie! I don't want to burst your bubble but I am pretty sure that Mr. Bond requested his martinis "shaken not stirred."

Thanks Suki...I was just going to type that!! Definitely SHAKEN!

helloooo got1tiel,

neither Webster's nor the OED give "shaked" as colloquial or archaic form of shook/shaken.

Please brush up your irregular verbs and tell us your native language (we're all dying to know).

Webster's (my old one anyhow) gives the following:

shake v.i.; SHOOK; SHAKEN: SHAKING, <i>Dial.past</i> SHAKED; <i>pastpart.</i> SHAKED or SHOOK&quot;

As for the The Oxford English Dictionary, wasn't that written by the Professor and the Madman? (Sorry, Simon Winchester, couldn't resist!) Whaddya expect? :)

Touche, Ira (forgive missing accent). Looking for consistency in English has drived many frustrated foreigners mad.

You usually get back the effort you put into it. Sincerely try to learn some passable necessary phrases in French and then make a real effort to do one thing in every exchange. Start every comment, every request with, Pardon Madame (Monsiour, Mesdames, Messieurs) then ask the question in French or ask, &quot;Parlez vous Anglais, s'il vous plait?&quot; The French are VERY formal. IMHO that's where many Americans mess up.

Most French people who speak English are proud of that fact and will likely chime in if they believe that you will appreciate it and not keep them too long.