Ça….?

Asking someone how they are doing usually consists of 2 parst: Ça and then some word.

For example: Ça boom?

This is usually used for Children. But sometimes they it is used in a playful way amongst friends.

Below some other ways to ask how someone is doing (and my attempt at translating them):

Ça Gazze? (Does it gass?)

Ça flot? (Does it float?)

Ça mousse?  (Does it mousse?)

Ça fart? (Does it wax?)

Ça grouve (Does it groove?)

The throwing of food

How ever the strangest thing is when they start throwing food at you…

Not literally (luckily) but the conversation could be as follows:

Tu as la peche? (do you have the peach)?

You could answer: Oui, or Oui, la patat! (the potato).

Once someone even answered: La Banane!
Recently, I even found out that “la banane” also means a smile from ear to ear.

So if they ask you if you are having a peach, don’t wonder about whether you look funny or whether you were supposed to bring fruit to the ocasion. Just answer “Yes and the potato as well”.

Disclaimer:
Just remember that anything you say in the French language is highly context sensitive. I found out after using “la banane” with several people that it’s actually better to only use it with friends.

Arriving at the Rotterdam station I descended into the station corridors. There I heard Dutch spoken with heavy accents. The accents were mostly Arabic. When I was a teenager I used to have a negative reaction to hearing these accents. I would stigmatize them with aggressive people or the negative prejudices I sometimes used to have about foreign groups.

Then I thought about my skills in French. They are very limited but I can do a simple meeting with colleagues now and manage my way around shops etc. However to the French a must sound heavily accented as well. I am now one of the foreign groups. Now I am the one needing to blend in. I am the one sometimes dealing with prejudices. I now understand more how hard it is to speak a foreign language, to blend in.

An apology on my side is all I can utter now towards all the prejudice I have had up till now. Now I understand more of what it feels like. Now I a foreigner in another country. Now I am one of them…

The first one occurred during the lunch. Someone asked where someone else was. The response I didn’t get. So I said: Elle est dans la cul? This means: she is in the ass? What they said was: elle est dans la queue, which means: She is in the line.

The next mistake I made was when a lady was helping me move my desk. She came up with all sorts of handy solutions to little problem and helped me organize. Then I said: Tu est très practicable. This means you are very usable (again in a sexual context). I should have said: Tu est très pratique.

The next one was during language class, I was describing the music at our church. I said: La Musique dans notre eglise est avec beaucoup de “bite“(sounds like beat, which I meant). This means that the music is with a lot of male marriage tools (If you know what I mean). I should have said: ”avec beaucoup de rythme”. The guy was wondering what kind of church we visit

The last one was when I wanted to wish someone a nice evening. She had talked about doing something nice that evening. So I wanted to say: Enjoy your evening. The dictionary said to use a certain verb. So I said it: Jouir ton soir. She looked at me with a really strange face. It turns out that jouir is only used in a sexual context (thanks dictionary). So I said to her: enjoy her your sex tonight. I should have said: passé une bonne soirée.

So you see that I am still all over the place with language mistakes. I know that I make more of them because I lack the normal barrier to communication. Luckily the French really still like my efforts and greatly appreciate them. So I can keep learning. So that’s it for today. And enjoy your evening, morning, afternoon etc