Outrageous French accent*

OK, so I’ve been living in France for three and a half years now, and I have learnt pitifully little about French, French life or French wine. Except this (and I’ve learnt this one the hard way): never live in a street (or a village for that matter) you can’t pronounce. It causes many, many problems. These problems are compounded by the fact that we live at number 35. Which is fine, that part I can say. But then there are all the other 35s – next door, at the back, across the road and so on. Clearly someone was having a bad day when they did the numbering for our road. So not only do I have to pronounce the long and convoluted name in my best and most outrageous French accent, but I also need to explain that we are the number 35 with the green rusty mailbox, the long drive and the slightly wonky gate.

PS If you’re wondering about the ‘vache espagnol’, there’s an endearing little expression in French to the effect of “Elle parle francais comme une vache espagnol”. I thought it apt.

 

*With apologies to Monty Python

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