At the mighty Firm, lots of (French) people like to think of themselves as bilingual.
The higher up the professional scale they creep, the more English words they feel compelled to throw around... breezily... you know, in a kind of "ooh-I-just-can't-THINK-what-that-word-would-be-in-French" spirit.
This is generally quite amusing for the few native English speakers among us.
Indeed, the little incident during today's meeting really deserves a mention.
It's a serious meeting: the speaker is the Head of Something Important Sounding. He is sharing important information with us about an upcoming project. Unfortunately, most of what he is saying is fairly incomprehensible, due to the fact that every fifth word is in English (the rest is in French). His English accent actually defies belief: it's almost like he's parodying zee French acc-ant...
Eventually, he informs us that the Important Sounding Project will involve "monthly reviews". What he actually says is "reevious zat are moosley".
He's already breezed on confidently to the next point, when suddenly my 65 year-old English colleague (a serious-minded woman) cups her ear and asks: "What, sorry? "Muesli"? Why "Muesli"?"
Important Manager looks as confused as my English colleague, and there is an embarrassed silence as a few people (me included) bite their lips and study their feet.
At last, another diplomatic Brit comes to the rescue, leans over discreetly and tells her "Monthly. Ahem. He said "monthly""...
"Oh! Sorry..." exclaims my hapless colleague, still deadly serious. "I thought you said muesli!"
Curiously, nearly everyone in the room has a little coughing fit for the next 30 seconds...
2 comments:
hehe, sounds very familiar! The phenomenon is not only French it appears. Here's a good false friend: our Vice President (rich hotel owner) said recently to a group of visiting bankers that our Board were very compromised (comprometidos) in their services to children. Oops.
;-))
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