Padraig and Keren,
I couldn't agree more! EJ

Answer to Nikki...

Si, quand je n'ai guère envie de pisser! ;)

Zut, c'étais un "oui" et non pas un "si"!

Et aussi "c'était" plutôt que "c'étais" ;-)

And nobody picked up my mistake in French!

I can only see one. Perhaps there are more.

My French is pretty damn good, even if I say so myself, and I find that the more I learn French, the more I appreciate English.

A French friend, reading Harry Potter in English asked me what "bunk" meant.

Bunk bed?
Bunk up?
Bunk down?
Bunk off?
Bunk with?

I thing that 2 and 4 are specifically UK, but you get the picture.

how about a bunch of bunk

(and not referring to your post Waring)

Warig if you allow me, I would say your mistakes!
Franchement, oui, c'est intéresSant, et il N' y a pas mal de gens ici, assez intelligents, avec des opinions et educations diverEs.

PersonNellement, cela me fait plaisir, et c'est le plaisir qui compte!
No big deal... :-)

Waring, I don't usually correct people's language on here, but just to be contrary: interesant is spelled "intéressant", divers should be in the feminine/plural (diverses) and I'd probably use avis rather than opinion (in which case divers would be correct).

Oh, Coco got in there before me, and picked up a few more mistakes :)

Easy for me bien sûr! ;;)

I'm quite pleased with that! diversEs I picked up myself.

Are you sure about "Il N'y a pas mal de gens"? Surely that would change the meaning of the sentence.(?)

I appreciate being corrected, however I try and avoid writing French as much as I can.

Remember "ne pas"? I know everybody (almost) skip the "ne" now but they should add it. It is best to write it even if you don't say it... (am I clear?)

I thought "pas mal" would stand alone as an expression in this context, in terms of many, or several.

"Il n'est pas mal comme musicien"

But

"Pas mal de personnes croient que...."

Both are correct, it is because you used "il y a" at the beginning of the sentence. If you write "pas mal de gens", you'll need to ad a verb in your sentence.

Merci Coco.

thought "pas mal" would stand alone as an expression in this context, in terms of many, or several.

"Il n'est pas mal comme musicien"

But

"Pas mal de personnes croient que...."

In the first case "mal" is an adjective : il n'est pas mal = il n'est pas mauvais.
In the second (pas mal) it is an adverb or rather a "locution adverbiale".

This is SO much more interesting than sneaker threads....thank you all! I've learned (and recalled) a lot!

<i><font color=blue>Franchement, oui, c'est interesant, et il y a pas mal de gens ici, assez intelligents, avec des opinions et educations divers.

Personellement, cela me fait plaisir, et c'est le plaisir qui compte!
</font></i>

<i><font color=red>Franchement, oui, c'est int&eacute;resSant, et il N' y a pas mal de gens ici, assez intelligents, avec des opinions et educations diverEs

PersonNellement, cela me fait plaisir, et c'est le plaisir qui compte!.</font></i>

<b>&quot;il y a pas mal&quot;</b> IS CORRECT in informal French.

I can't think of any sentence where you would say &quot;il <b>n'</b>y a pas mal de ..&quot;

int<b></b>&eacute;re<b>s</b>sant

<b>&eacute;</b>ducations

diver<b>s</b>e<b>s</b>, not diveres Coco!

Perso<b>n</b>nellement

NB: il me semble que les mots anglais &quot;education&quot;/&quot;educated&quot; ne rendent pas compte des nuances du fran&ccedil;ais entre &quot;instruction&quot;/&quot;instruits&quot; et &quot;culture&quot;/&quot;cultiv&eacute;&quot;

Only one of these sentences is correct, which one Coco ?

Ca ne m'a pris pas mal de temps pour composer ce message en HTML

OR

Ca ne m'a pas pris mal de temps pour composer ce message en HTML

OR

Ca m'a pris pas mal de temps pour composer ce message en HTML

;-)

I would go for number 3, however I'm a Rosbif with nought but an honours degree in French and four years on a French speaking island, so what do I know?

He who knows not and knows that he knows not.....

A little humility is a good thing!