The Language of Luuuuuv

I think that as Americans, we definitely have some romantic notions when it come to France, the French language, French food and wine and just French culture in general. As Americans, when we say 'rendez-vous', 'oh la la!' or 'risqué' we have images of lovers and and black lace dancing in our heads. But in France a 'rendez-vous' is just a meeting...I plan a rendez-vous with my boss or a client for 10am at the office. In French 'Oh la la!' just means 'whoa.' So of course it could be used for a pretty girl, but it could also be used when you see some crazy old lady whacking who appears to be her husband with her umbrella and screaming "Don't rush me, Pierre!" You witness a scene like that and you exchange a glance with your friends that means "Get a load of that whacked out old granny!" and you mutter under your breath "oh la la!" In French "Risqué" just means dangerous or 'risky'...I had all of my groceries in one plastic sack, but decided to double bag it beacuse using just the one sack seemed at bit 'risqué.' And (sorry to disappoint you, boys!) all of the cleaning ladies I have seen, or the so-called 'French maids', wear flip-flops and over-sized button-up smocks over their clothes so they don't stain them with cleaning products.

Still, all that being said, love is definitely in the air over here. Cafés are always full of lovers huddled together over tiny tables, sidewalks are full of pairs walking arm-in-arm and there does seem to be an unusually high number of lingerie shops. A couple weeks ago I read an article with several different students called "Candid Camera at the Drive-Thru." The article talked about the new fast food drive-thru technology that took your picture at the order point and then used your picture to match your order with you once your food was ready. It was supposed to cut down on botched orders, but the article asked if it wasn't maybe a bit 'big brother-ish' to have your picture taken everytime you swung in for a burger and fries. I asked my various students what they thought about this, and every single one of them said: "What if they took your picture at the drive-thru and you were there with your lover???" I had to laugh at this, because as an American my first thoughts were, "What if I was sneaking off to McDonalds for a milkshake and fries when I supposed to be at work?" and "Then they would have a record of what I ordered and how many times in a week! If I ordered two milkshakes and a giant fries, they would see that I was ALONE in my car!!!"

Another fine example has cropped up more than once between me and my boyfriend, Bruno. Any time we have two things and we put them together, I say, "Look! Now they can be friends!" It is all about the 'friends' for me. We both have the same Mac PowerBook laptop, and when I moved in I put my laptop on the desk next to his and happily proclaimed, "Look! Now they can be friends!" At the same time as Frenchy happily proclaimed, "Look! Now they can make love!" Ah! I was shocked! "Heeeey. You stop that. They are being FRIENDS!" I said. And he just smiled and gave me a knowing look, as if to say, "Okay, my little Puritain. You can go ahead and think that, if you want."

My friend Shelli was teaching English in a middle school in the north of France last year and she told me that for Halloween she had her students draw little characters, like ghosts or monsters or vampires, and then write out their charcter's daily routine. One of her middle schoolers said, "At 3 o'clock, the vampire eats the chocolate. At 4 o'clock the vampire loves." ("At dree o' clock, ze vampiiirrrre eat ze shocola. At four o'clock ze vampiiirrre luuuvs.") Well, Shelli and her American sensibilities didn't actually grasp right away what he was getting at. Um, yes. Well, I guess in France even the vampires are romantics.