Friday, October 22, 2010

Broaden your imagination



When you live in another country and culture , one of the most fascinating experience  is to learn each day new words supporting different images and symbols: each day you broaden your imagination… and especially with slang images! You cannot use them in a very select conversation, it’s not politically correct…

So today I learned

  • -        A  “pain in the ass”: (littéralement: une peine dans le cul).  In my favorite coffee bar, I was speaking to a man: he told me that he came in this place to work, because his wife was always struggling with him:  she was a “pain in the ass”…. But I learned also that you can use this expression for all the administrative paper pressures and work.

  • -        A “brain fart”:(littéralement un pet du cerveau) I really like this image… when we speak, most of us we say “hums!  you know, you know… “ and all these different noises… A friend called these hesitations “brain farts”.

  • -        Today I learned also a very awkward expression: don’t use it but the image behind is striking:   if you want to say that you do not care, that it does not concern you, is not important to you, use this interesting image: “I don’t give a flying fuck” (littéralement: je n’accorde pas un “foutrage” en vol! cela enrichit l’imagination! Isn’t it?)

Each day brings its opening to new images:  the gifts to a stranger, if you love the country you are living in and are not only a visiting tourist.