There is a commercial for a language learning program that I hear on the radio fairly often. In this ad, the person talks about how all his friends doubted him when he said that he could order in French. He then goes on to explain what he said when the waiter arrived and how it makes him so much cooler than any of his friends1. My problem isn't so much that he learned to speak another language or that he used his new found skills to order. In fact, my issue is not really even with the superiority complex he seems to have developed along with his linguistic abilities. My problem is that (a) I speak French like a 5 year-old2 and I could have said what he did and (b) the commercial cuts off before his friends find out that their oh-so-sophisticated friend just asked for chicken and french fries3. I'd like to think that they all ordered something nice off the menu and since he insisted on ordering in French, the only thing he could figure out how to say was something off the kids menu. Hopefully, they brought him some milk in a sippy cup, too.
1 This isn't actually stated in the commercial, but it's implied. I mean, come on. He's trying to impress his friends by ordering in French, and clearly looks down on the because they can't.
2 And not a bright 5 year-old, either. It's like the really slow one that everyone says/hopes will eventually catch up to everyone else.
3 Which is not to say that there is anything wrong with chicken or french fries or even both of them together4. It's just that if you need to order in French, there might be something slightly more daring you could try.
4 There was initially an entire rant here spanning at least two more footnotes about combining chicken with various things, including waffles, how to order chicken'n'waffles in French and whether they would even know what you were talking about in a French restaurant if you tried to order chicken and waffles. I eventually decided it was a little too wordy and even calling it tangential would be a stretch.
May 27, 2008
Je voudrais le poulet et les frites
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3 comments:
I took French in school for four years. I passed that last year. That's a funny joke. It's funnier because it's true. Point being, I can order in French. That hardly counts as speaking French.
I wanna hear your full rant. Rants are best when long.
So, how does one order chicken and waffles in French? Or, is there such a thing as chicken and crepe?
Would they even serve chicken and chips in a French restaurant? And if they did, it would most likely be a little more involved than merely "chicken and chips". Did he think "French fries" would impress his dim-witted friends? Hell, I haven't taken a French class in over a decade and I could order "Coq au Vin avec pommes de terre au gratin".
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