European Tribune - Comments - Thursday Open Thread

Thursday Open Thread | 82 comments (82 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

The hard bit is understanding what the other one's saying ;)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 11:49:03 AM EST

Let's hear it for international misunderstanding!

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 11:53:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

Damn, that's all my strategies blown.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 11:57:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

and for a slightly different viewpoint, for those who can access BBC iPlayer, I strongly recommend the ever idiosyncratic Jonathan Meades on France

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 12:03:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

first part of a four part series isn't it?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 12:22:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

Finally got round to watching the second episode, and the piece about Frebch secularism is cuttingly dismissive of "The special pleading and whining|" exhibited by religious heirarchies

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 07:53:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 1)

I had a 15minute conversation with a nice gentleman in Quiberon one time using exactly those strategies.

by asdf on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 12:59:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

The Swedish-speaking fishermen on the west coast of Finland could well speak non-Linear B proto-greek, for all I know. My Swedish is limited, but it was gobbledegook. My Swedish-speaking friend chatted amicably with Åke at the wheel of his boat when he took us to an island an hour away. That is a one hour conversation. I asked my friend ashore what he had been talking about with the fisherman and he said "I don't know, I couldn't understand a word."

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 02:50:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Two things (none / 0)

First, the chick on the right must be French. Check out how well she wields the cig and the wineglass in one hand.

Second, is the chick on the right suppose to be an idiot American?

In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.

by THE Twank (yatta blah blah @ blah.com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2012 at 02:54:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

afew:

The hard bit is understanding what the other one's saying ;)

yeah it's city talk. If you wanted to get up to speed with the vulgate, you could just watch some vulgar TV...

I'm sure I'd have the same problem with the way they speak down your way.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 03:16:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 1)

In fact I meant the hard part about beginning to learn a language is less speaking (you can work out a basic sentence in your head beforehand), but following what is being said.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 03:59:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Thursday Open Thread (none / 0)

But on the level of that conversation, which is almost content-free anyway, you only have to pick up a few keywords and mug along with it...

Les américains... putain... etc.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 04:50:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Thursday Open Thread | 82 comments (82 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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