IT'S BEEN NEARLY 8 months, but I've finally be cursed at by a Frenchman.
On Saturday afternoon we went to Monaco with some friends from DC and some friends from here in France. At one point I was standing near the Grand Palais looking over the wall at one of the two main harbors. As I turned away from the wall, a little girl of 3 or 4 who was walking near me tripped over my foot and hit the ground pretty hard. Of course, I felt terrible and quickly said how sorry I was and helped her get up and find her parents. Her mother came over and I apologized to her as well and let her know it was an accident. Incident over? Not by a long shot.
About 1 minute later a man who looked to be in his 60s (the girl's grandfather, perhaps) walked over and started shouting at me (in French), telling me I was 'sick in the head' because I knocked over this girl 'on purpose.' I was a little suprised by this and I repeated by apology and tried to explain that it was an accident. But he would have none of it and he continued to tell me how 'sick' I was and started yelling that I should 'go back to my own country' and that he was 'so tired of foreigners.' Then he called me an 'a-hole' (connard?) about 4 or 5 gimes. I didn't really know what to do so I threw my hands in the air and turned away. That seemed to make him more upset and he continued his rant as he and his family began to walk away.
[Quick note: I only know about the 'go back to my country' and 'tired of foreigners' line because our French friend Jerome translated what he was saying after the incident was over. If I knew French better I would have taken the opportunity to whip out my Carte de Sejour after he made those comments, then I would have said something like: 'Hey buddy, read this. I live in France. Ahhhh Snap!']
Anyway, after the guy called me some more bad names, several of the other people in the area began to jump to my defense. One woman who sitting on a bench near us told the guy to 'stop shouting and go away.' Meanwhile, Kerri and the kids just looked on, hoping the ordeal was over, which it was.
But just for the record...if things had heated up some more, I think I could have taken the guy.
CJS
6 comments :
Did you ust say Ahhh Snap? Brilliant.
And did you just say you think you could have taken a guy in his 60s? Too funny.
Grandparents can be rather nutso when it comes to their precious pies.
And J, cuss words are the very first words you should learn when you go to a foriegn country, and they should always be on the tip of your tongue.
Now I'm mad and am thinking of some things for you to have said--what with my two yr's of HS French.
What a fils de putain (my mother provided the spelling, so blame her if it's wrong).
Julianne
You had several options during this event, none of which you took because you're a classy American who took the high road. You could have said:
1. va faire foutre!
2. j'ai baiser ta mere, hier (I made that one up, it's really good)
3. degage toi, salopard.
4. casse-toi, pauvre con (thanks to Nicolas Sarkozy)
Ask your friend Jerome for some translation.
And we know you could have taken him. You would have brought your fists down from 6'5" in the air and rained blows upon his short, stubby body, like Frank Costanza on Festivus.
But, alas, you took the high road.
Seinfeld references are always appreciated!
I'm glad to hear some other people jumped to your defense.
By the way, I've tagged you on my blog if you feel like doing it. No worries if you don't. (Yeah, yeah, I know you've tagged me once before and I never got around to it - sorry!)
:)
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