Thursday, May 07, 2009

Should totally be a maternity store

I didn't actually buy anything in here, but I feel like this kind of sums me up a lot lately.

And it would make a perfect line of maternity wear.

The Dutch have spectacular English, so I have to assume the owners just decided to amuse themselves naming their store.

It reminded me, though, of traveling with a friend in Argentina a few years ago. We met the most adorable French-Canadian couple, and went out to dinner with them a couple times.

One night we were all given Engish menus. And we were laughing so hard at translations like "flittered and flappered octopus."

And then one of our new French-Canadian friends said, "I've got one! I've got one! Rib eye steak! Hahahahahaha!"

And we were all, "Oh, that's just normal."

15 comments:

  1. It is nonsensical, isn't it?

    I love this...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think your French-Canadian (or Canadien Francais if you want to be technical) friend was just stupid because I'm Canadian and I know what rib eye steak is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh those wacky canucs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lilu - Oh, I love that!!

    Hillary - There are many things I love about you, topping the list your candor and your lack of hesitation in using the word asshole. It's excellent.

    Also, their English wasn't fluent, so maybe that's the issue? I absolutely loved them. He and his girlfriend were so young and adorable that I kind of wanted to adopt them both, even thouth they were only like a decade younger than me. And both had parents already.

    notsojenny - Precisely. And you know, I just realized I've liked every single Canadian I've ever met. I might have to blog about it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like canucs too!

    And you, I like you! welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome Back, Lisa!!

    i also like canucs (seeings as how i'm married to one!), but they do use the english language in strange and unusual ways . . . for example my husband will call a sofa a "davenport," and a cash register the "cash," and the bathroom the "washroom." i've learned to live with this (ha!) along with his odd pronunciations (like hel-ee-copter, and fillet with a hard T sound. and it is true, unlike most americans, most canadians are genuinely nice.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE that!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I use to translate my away messages into random languages using Babelfish, and I once translated "We are completely screwed." Then I re-translated the result back into English:

    "We are screwed so entire."

    I think it got the point across even better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. either a maternity store or a yeast infection medication...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Itchy bitchy works well for the menopausal set as well - and I would know...:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's canuck. With a k at the end. Like the Vancouver Canucks hockey team :) Not that I'm complaining. I'm just cranky today. I should shop at Itchy Bitchy. Too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dagny - I vastly prefer the re-translation. Definitely gets the point across.

    JoLee - Hahahaha! Yes. So terrible!

    Kate - Ahh. By that time, I'm going to bet I'll just fully embrace it, rather than trying to suppress (sometimes).

    Miss Rosa - Correction is different from complaint. And itchy bitchy is always understood.

    A.S. - Thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Are you home? I missed you, even though I'm in New Jersey anyway. During your intercontinental jaunt I caught up on the blog, and in so doing, was reminded of what an excellent writer you are, was amused by the fact that you equate Wisconsin with Mongolia, and was all happy at your happy. Tell me how the trip went. xoxoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Welcome home! I missed you!

    And now I want a steak.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me about it.