ici on dit
continuing with the marvelous list of firsts:
i might have assumed this would happen to me at one point - to be directly confronted with the language battle here. and not in a way that makes me choose sides, but in a way that hits me with the hammer over the head for having already chosen sides (apparently).
so, quickly: i'm in a crowd at the metro, at berri-uqam, i accidentaly nudge someone in the throng of people. i'm distracted, reading my book, keeping moving, so i say `sorry`' and move on.
beep! wrong answer!
as i pass, he says to me very audibly, conversationally, 'ici, on dit 'scuse moi' '
and, oh my god and the seven hells!
i came to quebec and learned french and i do use french to do groceries in my neighbourhood and for most of what other little interaction i have with institutions. i do. when i'm on the metro it's ...either or, cause i'm not very focused on interacting. if i had wanted to approach him to ask him something, i would have probably done it in french : i swear i have tested myself in the days ever since, and that is what i do: not assume that someone speaks english. but my 'sorry' was an automatic, international-languagey expression of apology. it was meant to be understood, i guess, as such, and that's it. like if i'm shocked i will cry out in romanian. these little things. this lack of discipline.
instead of which, i am all of a sudden in the middle of a political argument.
(yeah, i said nothing. i was very lame, and tired all of a sudden. i gaped for 2 seconds, then said 'oui, j'pourrai dire ca aussi' and just left. i didn't want to argue, wasn't prepared to argue.)
but i'm defensive, can you hear it? personally i feel i'd meant no wrong and was just attacked out of the blue. if he meant to shame me, great job. and i'm still, maybe i'm not the exact population you should be shaming, dude. i don't know.
the point is, i partly sympathize with him. that's what makes it tricky, right, otherwise it would be just me ranting about rude people in the metro. i want to embrace french and use french and i am a supporter of keeping it alive in the province, yes. i am also an anglophile, educated in english, who finds it hard to break into acquiring a taste for the local culture. my french is functional, sure, but not polished or nuanced. i sure as hell cannot argue in french about how i DO actually AGREE with the use of french, as long as you don't police me about it.
i do realize now this is why people move away from here.
and i do wish francophones would not shoot themselves in the leg like this.
i sort of want to invite a conversation, but why am i kidding myself.
i might have assumed this would happen to me at one point - to be directly confronted with the language battle here. and not in a way that makes me choose sides, but in a way that hits me with the hammer over the head for having already chosen sides (apparently).
so, quickly: i'm in a crowd at the metro, at berri-uqam, i accidentaly nudge someone in the throng of people. i'm distracted, reading my book, keeping moving, so i say `sorry`' and move on.
beep! wrong answer!
as i pass, he says to me very audibly, conversationally, 'ici, on dit 'scuse moi' '
and, oh my god and the seven hells!
i came to quebec and learned french and i do use french to do groceries in my neighbourhood and for most of what other little interaction i have with institutions. i do. when i'm on the metro it's ...either or, cause i'm not very focused on interacting. if i had wanted to approach him to ask him something, i would have probably done it in french : i swear i have tested myself in the days ever since, and that is what i do: not assume that someone speaks english. but my 'sorry' was an automatic, international-languagey expression of apology. it was meant to be understood, i guess, as such, and that's it. like if i'm shocked i will cry out in romanian. these little things. this lack of discipline.
instead of which, i am all of a sudden in the middle of a political argument.
(yeah, i said nothing. i was very lame, and tired all of a sudden. i gaped for 2 seconds, then said 'oui, j'pourrai dire ca aussi' and just left. i didn't want to argue, wasn't prepared to argue.)
but i'm defensive, can you hear it? personally i feel i'd meant no wrong and was just attacked out of the blue. if he meant to shame me, great job. and i'm still, maybe i'm not the exact population you should be shaming, dude. i don't know.
the point is, i partly sympathize with him. that's what makes it tricky, right, otherwise it would be just me ranting about rude people in the metro. i want to embrace french and use french and i am a supporter of keeping it alive in the province, yes. i am also an anglophile, educated in english, who finds it hard to break into acquiring a taste for the local culture. my french is functional, sure, but not polished or nuanced. i sure as hell cannot argue in french about how i DO actually AGREE with the use of french, as long as you don't police me about it.
i do realize now this is why people move away from here.
and i do wish francophones would not shoot themselves in the leg like this.
i sort of want to invite a conversation, but why am i kidding myself.
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