Franco Spanglish
21Oct2002 Filed under: EavesdropperMe, to the second guy who showed up to work on our balcony: “I thought you guys were done working out here.”
Guy: “Entiendo inglais poquito.”
Me: “Ah, ouais. Bien sur.”
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10 Responses to “Franco Spanglish”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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heather
October 21st, 2002 at 1:07 pm
There is an older Hispanic gentleman who works as a janitor in my office building. Nice, but a bit creepy because he continually stares at me when he cleans my office. That, and he’s firmly convinced I speak Spanish.
him: *rattles off something in Spanish*
me: No habla Espanol.
him: Si! Si! *rattles off more in Spanish*
btezra
October 21st, 2002 at 6:22 pm
the Spanish accent makes me extremely randy, seriously…it does
dyl
October 21st, 2002 at 7:26 pm
sorry…sounds a bit racist to me….
Ariel
October 21st, 2002 at 7:31 pm
Racist? Because, when on-the-spot and trying to communicate with someone who I know doesn’t speak English, I mistakenly default to the foreign language I know best, which is French? Am I misunderstanding you? I’m confused.
dyl
October 21st, 2002 at 8:25 pm
clarification…
posts above sounded racist to me…not your original post…
Ariel
October 21st, 2002 at 8:29 pm
OH! I see. Sorry. I thought you were accusing ME of sounding racist, and I was truly, totally confused.
That said, I think I can understand people finding certain languages sexy, without it somehow being “racist” …think about all the fascination with the “romance” of French-speakers or the “passion” of Italians. Is that racist, too?
philippe
October 22nd, 2002 at 8:27 am
eh eh, I can’t help but think of jamie lee curtis in A fish called wanda…
- Per comminciare, due insalate verde con peperoni, un linguine primavera…
- No!! No!!! Make the call, Otto!
…
btezra
October 22nd, 2002 at 8:56 am
I still think Spanish speaking women are wicked sexy…and there’s nothing wrong with being sexy
amy
October 22nd, 2002 at 9:33 am
It is hard to view a language as “sexy” once you’ve been harrassed, berated, and verbally assaulted by native speakers. Any language has ugliness.
Furthermore:
Have you ever had someone tell you you’re beautiful or sexy while you’re trying to have an argument or make a serious point? Doesn’t it make you feel diminished and trivialized, like sexiness is all you have to offer?
Now imagine if people felt that way about everything you said, for no particular reason.
sijeka
October 23rd, 2002 at 4:22 am
Hey ariel, correct spelling is ‘ouais’! (smile!)
Phillipe, that movie is so funny, first time i saw it, i thought i was gonna die.