9th June 2013

For Him Indoors, it's LOL time again. We're meeting some friends at a charming little bistro in Verfeil, Tarn et Garonne. Its name?  La Seye et Vous, on the river Seye.  Normally, the French aren't known for their humour - you only have to look at po-faced M. Hollande.  At school we were told to 'Asseyez-vous'...hence La Seye et Vous.  Right up Him Indoors' street. But, this corruption of English into franglais is outraging some defenders of the language of Moliere, even though we're all doing it. At English railway stations 'the buffet is open', whilst in France 'Le snack bar est ouvert'.  How clever we think we are when we say things like 'it's de rigueur', only to hear the French themselves say 'c'est le must!'  Oh, the irony.   And nowadays there are endless opportunities in the fields(!) of sport and technology:  'le goal average' and 'scorer' (instead of 'marquer un but') and 'email' (instead of le courriel).  But you just can't substitute the irreplaceable 'bon appetit' for 'good eating' which we've heard recently, or even 'saumon pave' for 'salmon pavement'! However, we're all at it. When some English friends arrive next week we plan to take them along the River Garonne in Toulouse for 'le booze-cruising'.  Just try to scotch that, says Him Indoors.