A little Cat ........A lesson in French

My Parents and youngest brother, who is 14 are not long back from 10 days holiday in the South of France.  My wee Brother is pretty good at speaking French and was trying to teach my Daddy a few things too.  Who am I kidding, my wee bro is pretty fluent in French.......he got 100% in his French exams and when I told him I wanted to buy him a wee treat, he asked for a French linguistics book to improve his French as he wanted to be able to speak "proper French" and not the French he is taught at school.  Had that been me when someone asked me if I wanted a treat, it probably would have been a book too........but certainly nothing school related.  No way!  But this is the kind of kid Corey is.  He always wants to improve upon everything he does........even when he gets 100% in his exams, lol.  So he's pretty good at speaking the old French.  Oh and did I tell you that he's teaching himself Italian and Russian too?  Yeah, I know!  But that's a completely different story for another day, lol.

Anyway, I digress (with talking up my wee bro as a Super Genius.....which he is to me, lol).  Corey was sitting with my Daddy trying to teach him just some simple things in French which in turn my Daddy would impress my wee Mammy with his multi-lingual prowess.  So, Corey sat very patiently teaching my Daddy how to say,  "A little cat" in French.  He sat repeating and repeating:

 "Un petit chat", "Un petit chat", "Un petit chat"

But it was a bit too much in one sentence for my Daddy who is a pure Northern Ireland man through and through and has only ever spoken English his entire life.  He didn't learn languages at school so never had a chance to learn another language.  But because he wanted to try speaking some French, Corey was more than happy to oblige.

And so, Corey with his everlasting patience decided to break the sentence down for my Daddy even more so he would be able to hear and understand the sentence.  So Corey says, in his beautifully honed French accent;

"Repeat after me........UN"

Daddy replied......"Un" (in his gruff Northern Irish accent)

"Ok, now say "Petit"

And because he pronounced "Un" so well, my Daddy is getting pretty confident in his French speaking abilities.  So he replied  with "PetiT"

"No, no don't pronounce the T so harshly.  It's a soft T, barely audible, if at all.  Pretend the last T isn't even there.  So try again: Petit".

This time my Daddy gets it right and says "Petit".

"That's good.  Now say "Chat, but again with the T barely there are all "

Again Daddy replied with "ChaT" as harsh as ever.  But Corey quickly prompts him again and he tells him how to say it.

So again Daddy says "Chat", with less of a T this time.

"Very good.  Now say, Un petit chat".

And to Corey's amazement my Daddy replies "Un petit chat",

"Brilliant, that's it.  So just repeat that over and over until you remember it perfectly", Corey said.

And with that, Corey goes about his business (building a website of all things!) and my Daddy sits watching tv and every so often says "Un petit chat".

Next morning, Corey and my Daddy are down stairs chatting and having breakfast.  My Mammy comes down to join them and Corey thinks to himself that now is the perfect opportunity for Daddy to impress Mammy with his French skills.  After all, he sat repeating the sentence to himself all night and as its early in the morning, Corey believed it should be still pretty fresh in our Daddy's mind.  So Corey says:

"Daddy why don't you say that sentence in French for Mammy".

"Oh", Mammy replies "What's this about?"

My Daddy sheepishly looks at Corey and says "What sentence?"  My Daddy tends to get a little embarrassed and shy when he is put on the spot, it's actually quite adorable, lol.

Corey says "You know, the one I taught you last night.  Say "a little cat" in French".

So, my wee Daddy with his wee shy face, musters up the best French accent he can and proudly announces to my Mammy.......

"A LITTLE CAT, IN FRENCH".  

Yes, you have read that correctly.........it's English.  And not only is it English and not the French statement he was meant to say, but he repeated exactly what Corey told him to say, in a fictitious French accent.

Well of course as soon as he came out with that, the 3 of them erupted with laughter. The poor man had already forgotten what he was taught the night before and Corey put him on the spot the next morning, so he had to say something.  He must have thought he would get away with it if he put on some kind of strange accent, teehee.

Ahhhhhh my family.  I do love them to bits.  And believe me, this silly story is only a taster of what every day life is like in my family.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this silly little story and it gave you a giggle as much as it did me.  Have a great day whatever you are up to.

Toodles Noodles....Lee xx