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Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Austin - neighbors
Tue May 06 2003

When I was writing about El Paso, I forgot to mention a couple who lived next door to us. He was English, she was French. His name was Vyvyan, her name was Leo. I asked her once why, and she said her father was so positive she would be a boy that he didn't even consider a girl's name. So...she was Leo.

As I mentioned before, my husband spoke fluent French, and he and Leo would converse. I asked Leo one time what it means when my husband made certain sounds. I could only approximate the words. She laughed and translated, and the next time he was fixing something on the car, and used those words, I made the mistake of laughing. You should have seen the hurt look he gave me.

Anyway...to Austin. The couple in the building behind us were a "mixed marriage" too. He was an American officer, and she was a French national when they met. Married in Europe. By the time we met, they had a 4 year old child, a charming little boy.

One evening, they and my husband wanted to go to some affair (I think at the University), but I didn't want to go, so I volunteered to babysit Yves so they could all go to whatever the affair was. Yves and I were having a wonderful time together (after Stephen was put to bed). We were chatting away, when I didn't understand something he said, and asked for a repeat. He immediately understood that I didn't understand French, for that was the language he in which he had made his statement. He spoke French and English equally well. So, the rest of the evening was spent with Yves teaching me the French word for everything in the apartment. And correcting my pronunciation until I got it right! I'm still amused when I think about it.

When Maman and Pere returned, Yves was still teaching me. I wouldn't venture to say who of us had a more enjoyable evening!

Tomorrow...research

4 Comments
  • From:
    Ozone (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue May 06 2003
    Nice story...there is so much to be learned from children.

    Personally, if I was V and Leo...I would have just switched names.
  • From:
    Ozone (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue May 06 2003
    RYN: I hope that when you get that purple dress and the yellow boots that you will post a picture on your diary.
  • From:
    CovertOps (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue May 06 2003
    LOL! Clever young Yves! I can't pronounce anything in French at all even if I do recognize the words. I think I have awful pronunciation but someone told me I was just self-conscious, not dreadful.
    Learning languages is a beautiful thing! What a lovely miniature global village you live in!
    About being a Pet Grandma, I say it's a fantastic idea! The shelter animals need attention more than anything else. Puppies, like babies, need to hear human voices and receive cuddles and pats in order to grow up feeling secure.
    Love ya!
    Shalom,
    E.L.
  • From:
    Sezrah (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue May 06 2003
    hi pragmatist,
    it sounds like you both had a delightful time, what a wonderfully bright little boy :)
    i've always liked the idea of 'mixed' marriages

    as for a polariser, it is designed to let through only a certain colour of light. e.g. in cameras, a polariser can be fit onto the lens and it will make the sky appear more blue and cut down on things like reflection. in the projector there were 3 polarisers for the 3 different colours, each with their different path and the green polariser was meant to pass green but block the other colours of red and blue. instead what it was doing was allowing too much green through and shutting off both the other colours despite there being 3 separate distinct polarisers. makes no sense at all!

    sez