9.2.07

moi, moi-meme, et moi


there is no real equivalent to "me, myself, and i" in french, at least none that laure, my french teacher, could think of. technically, this translates to "me, myself, and me." nonetheless, i love the way it sounds. it makes me want to make up a song out of it, a song of myself. a different one than walt's. waltz. a very ordinary sentence like "the last time i saw your glasses they were in the desk drawer" reaches such musical heights when it's said in french: "elles etaient sur la table la derniere fois que je les ai vues." no wait. that's another sentence: "they were on the table the last time i saw them." they are no longer on the table. the glasses keep moving in a very mysterious manner: "la derniere fois que j'ai vu votre lunettes, elles etaient dans le tirior du bureau." these are the things that songs are made of: the ordinary turned suddenly mysterious again. the surprise so familiar, it is almost foreign.

3 comments:

Kay said...

the surprise for me was that glasses are feminine. and that is lovely.

Anonymous said...

I love it! One week when you weren't there, we learned how to say "snakes don't scare me" and "the kids are within earshot" "Les serpents ne me font pas peur" et "Les enfants sont a portée de l'oreille" heehee

Julie R said...

those are wonderful too. let us start a list of these...