I met my wife through playing golf. She is French and couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak French, so there was little chance of us getting involved in any boring conversations - that's why we got married really quickly.
quote by Sean Connery
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I unfortunately don't speak French, but my wife is now fluent in English, which really reflects rather badly on me.
quote by Sean Connery
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Two cows deconstruct Derrida
These two cows were ruminating
and one says, I was listening
to the milkmaid’s transistor
and this French philosopher
was explaining that there’s
no English translation of the French word
‘betise’ except ‘stupidity’ but
‘stupidity’ only refers to man
where the French ‘betise’ means
to behave like an animal…
and the other cow says
well what’s wrong with that
and the first cow says
well his point is, English cows
can’t be stupid; only man
can be stupid..
and the other cow says
well that’s a relief then
so does that mean that French cows
can be stupid
and the first cow says
no because they don’t have a word for it
in French
so the other cow says
so then is it better to be
an English cow
that can’t be stupid
or a French cow
that can’t be called stupid
and the first cow says
who cares, I’ve always said
the French ruminate too much
and then talk bullshit…
and the other cow says
I’m glad I’m a Jersey
what about that French milkmaid
I call sexyhands but
the farmer sometimes calls
a silly cow I wonder what
Derrida would say about that
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The more English is heard in the world, the more gratifying it seems to speak French, and above all to know the culture of our country. They find a kind of French social grace in the language and culture.
quote by Bernard Pivot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Just 22 miles of water
‘To understand all
is to forgive all ‘ –
that’s one French saying
that doesn’t seem to have
crossed the few miles of
‘The English Channel’, or
the Straits of Dover or
‘The Sleeve’ or the
‘Passage of Calais’ or
however the French translates –
with the Normans; so
perhaps they left it behind
at the Conquest along with
Armagnac and crepes and
their blonde mistresses
and never went back for it
like I wonder if that blunt
English saying,
‘Those who can, do;
those who can’t, teach; and
those who can’t teach,
become critics…’
ever made it across La Manche
to that civilised nation where
critics, teachers, and the mind
are held in such respect; but
suppose we equate football
and poetry here:
football supporters know their
playing days are over, if
they ever happened anyway;
they aren’t equipped to teach
except their sons, for some
happy time; and so they
hold to their precious love of
the beautiful game
by criticising the team,
the manager, and especially
the ref. Shoot the ref. So
maybe it’s because
you, and you know who you are,
felt you couldn’t be
the great poet which you so wanted
to be, and found you
couldn’t teach, that
because you truly, deeply
love poetry and all
it stands for, and need
to preserve that love, you
criticise poetry so savagely here
in England, and
are hated for it;
strange isn’t it that
a few miles across the Channel
from aggressive England
you’d be feted, revered, honoured,
as staunch upholder in critical essays
of the ever-renewing greatness of
French literature…
I’ll settle for understanding all and
forgiving all
poem by Michael Shepherd
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yes, what if God does not speak english at all?
you were not born yesterday
and probably heard it before
that if your God does not speak english
then he must not be God
of course, something arrogant
hangs in the air
of this effortless superiority that
'englishers'
'english-plongplangs'
clai m, which, of course, we
always oppose and dub
as prettry dumb silly
but anyhow, yes, we are asked again
what if?
what if, this God, does not really speak English?
well, of course, he is still God
and he must not have considered the english language
that important
and i agree, even if i speak it,
i still have this language
of my soul,
albeit, in english, for you,
who does not speak my own language,
yes, of course, for you to perhaps
understand,
but i like it though, this thought
that God does not speak
the english language, lest, he may sound
so englishly, oh well,
arrogant.....
dear God
do you really...not speak english?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I spoke French a bit, and I could speak a bit of this and that, and when you were taught those things by people who couldn't really do it, you can do some pretty wonderfully, imaginative horrific things to teachers.
quote by Diane Cilento
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Battle of the Herrings
A fishing action
North of France
1429 took place
Cause of battle
French vs. English
Anticipation/baited breath
River – flat plain
Set up strategy
Hook/line/sinker
British attacked first
French were slow
English bombarded fish
French did not
want to get
their shoes wet
Were most certain
outflanked by British
French counter attacked
Used Brie instead
of slippery worms
Won the fishing
competition – yelled Viva’
la fishermen French
“What was that”?
asked the English
“What’s the matter
with you cockneys
Hard of Herring? ”
'2008'
poem by Robert Sheridan
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French women have been made beautiful by the French people - they're very aware of their bodies, the way they move and speak, they're very confident of their sexuality. French society's made them like that.
quote by Charlotte Rampling
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Tarzan: It is a long story, but it was I who wrote what I could not speak — and now D'Arnot has made matters worse by teaching me to speak French instead of English.
line from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912)
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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The weight of the sex
Men speak ill of others
Who with women have affair,
For they couldn’t be like them.
Women speak ill of others,
After whom are many lords
For they couldn’t be like them.
This is the weight of the sex.
19.06.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Although the French were very friendly and helpful. On one location we were to film at the top of the Eiffel Tower but we couldn't, as it was so misty with four inches of snow on the ground. We couldn't see a thing but we finally got it done.
quote by Lalla Ward
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The End Of The World
Go if you want to
I never tried to stop you
Know there's a reason
For all of this you're feeling
Low, it's not my call
You couldn't ever love me more
You couldn't love me more
You couldn't love...
Me - I don't show much
It's not that hard to hide you
See in a moment
I can't remember how to
Be all you wanted
I couldn't ever love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love...
You want me to cry and play my part
I want you to sigh and fall apart
We want this like everyone else
Stay if you want to
I always wait to hear you say
There's a last kiss
For all the times you run this way
It's not my fault
You couldn't ever love me more
You couldn't love me more
You couldn't love...
Love me more
Couldn't ever love me more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love
You want me to lie not break your heart
I want you to fly not stop and start
We want us like everything else
Maybe we didn't understand
Not just a boy and a girl
It's just the end of the
End of the world
Me - I don't say much
It's far too hard to make you
See in a moment
I still forget just how to
Be all you wanted
I couldn't ever love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love you more
I couldn't love you more
song performed by by Cure
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I speak English, so I am no longer cute. My tongue itches for French.
A New Pilgrimage: Sonnet VIII
I will sit down awhile in dalliance
With my dead life, and dream that it is young.
My earliest memories have their home in France,
The chestnut woods of Bearn and streams among,
Where first I learned to stammer the French tongue.
Fair ancient France. No railroad insolence
Had mixed her peoples then, and still men clung
Each to his ways, and viewed the world askance.
We, too, as exiles from our northern shore,
Surveyed things sparsely; and my own child's scorn
Remained, how long, a rebel to all lore
Save its lost English, nor was quite o'erborne
Till, as I swore I'd speak no French frog's word,
I swore in French, and so laid down my sword.
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.
quote by Lawrence Welk
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chagrined (Revised)
Reached new depths of spectacular failure today
could not stay awake for a riveting discussion on
the French elections - and couldn't concentrate
on a stimulating news reel about endemic crime
in Marseilles
Nor express my joy in discovering Greek Robin
Hoods reconnecting electricity for the poor to save
their dignity or my delight in machines taking over
boring human jobs; it means seeking creative ways
to provide for our needs
My words fell into Sounds of Silence, even the star
pupil couldn't break the spell, impossibly failed to
express what he felt, amazing in-depth discussion
on intricate French election procedures, blood-
curdling stuff by the way -
Must have fried our brains, words and terms ran
away pursued by a voracious language plague,
chastised and deeply chagrined I can only cry about
the time wasted trying to prepare for a spell in the
darkest part of hell…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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It was always said that the big distinction between the French and the English is that the English are intelligent and the French are intellectual.
quote by Kenneth Baker
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let us work toward greater cooperation with all Caribbean Countries, whether we speak English, Dutch, French or Spanish, whether we are independent or not, and whether we be island or continental territories.
Speak With Kindness (Or Do Not Speak At All)
speak with kindness,
or do not speak at all.
speak not of judgement,
you are not the judge.
speak not of salvation,
let your living be your scriptures.
speak not of scriptures,
let your actions be your holy book.
speak not as apostle or teacher,
speak as a human being.
speak not of god,
then god will speak through you!
speak not as a man,
for you are woman too.
speak not with hateful malice,
for love does not work that way.
speak not as a prophet or seer,
speak as compassion made flesh.
speak not of morality,
speak of connection.
speak not of authority,
the tree and the leaf have just as much.
speak not of holiness,
for all that lives be holy.
speak with kindness...
or do not speak at all!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The Language That The Poor Wants To Speak
do you speak good English?
do you take pride in it and then use it to impress others
and swindle them
into a belief that they are inferior?
they have feelings too
of humiliation
which even in such a sad state
wish that their humiliation
speak good English still
they always think that English will give them
a good job
a better standing in the society
a flare of fashionable tongue
you make them cry
but still they want to speak that cry in English too
foolish!
but can you blame them?
you who hold that power and might
you who have taken all what they once had
and made them
worse within
themselves
despite which,
they still want to be like you
to speak like you
a god
how sad!
you have never known the language of love
the grammar of generosity
the syntax of sympathy
that language that good English
sometimes has forgotten
to utter
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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