Andrew
1384 posts
Jul 21, 2011
8:45 AM
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Par ma foi ! il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j'en susse rien, et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m'avoir appris cela.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois_Gentilhomme
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Andrew.
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Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup.
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MrVerylongusername
1767 posts
Jul 21, 2011
9:59 AM
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j'aime jouer au ping pong
Sorry, that's all the French I know.
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MrVerylongusername
1769 posts
Jul 21, 2011
10:24 AM
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but (largely thanks to the wiki) I do get it...
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nacoran
4343 posts
Jul 21, 2011
12:25 PM
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Although the meaning is quite different it reminds me of Keats.
"O for ten years, that I may overwhelm / Myself in poesy; so I may do the deed / That my own soul has to itself decreed."
It always seemed quite sad to me that a writer would ask for ten years to write the body of their work and not even get that. I get frustrated sometimes that I've had so much more time than that and produced so much less.
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Nate
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Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
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kudzurunner
2608 posts
Jul 21, 2011
2:37 PM
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"Par ma foi ! il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j'en susse rien, et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m'avoir appris cela"
Literal-ish translation: "By my time! There's more than 40 years that I say some prose without which I suck nothing, and I am the most grateful person in the world for you having taught me that."
I'm guessing it means: "It's just become clear to me that I've spent 40 years learning how to write badly, and I'm incredibly grateful to you for having helped me see that."
Am I right?
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hvyj
1580 posts
Jul 21, 2011
2:47 PM
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Gee, when I saw that Adam had logged in, at first I was afraid that the thread was going to be locked, and that Andrew was about to be excommunicated for posting in French. Whew. Now that I've read Adam's post, I am relieved that my initial fears were unfounded.
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MrVerylongusername
1772 posts
Jul 21, 2011
2:53 PM
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By my faith! there are more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing anything, and I am much obliged for having taught me that.
Thanks Google translate
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MrVerylongusername
1773 posts
Jul 21, 2011
3:00 PM
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Basically the speaker has been taught a new, more grandiose term for something he's been doing all his life: all of a sudden the simple act of speaking seems - in his eyes - to set him apart from the uneducated.
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Honkin On Bobo
696 posts
Jul 21, 2011
3:09 PM
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Literal-ish translation: "By my time! There's more than 40 years that I say some prose without which I suck nothing, and I am the most grateful person in the world for you having taught me that."
That does it, I'm having that French tattooed on my arm and when they ask me what it means (the crowd I hang out with definitely doesn't read French) I'm going to say the above literal-ish translation, just so I can see the looks on their faces, which I'm quite sure will resemble the confused tilted head dog look you get from your golden retreiver when you yell at him that the pot roast was NOT HIS dinner.
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Andrew
1386 posts
Jul 21, 2011
3:36 PM
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susse is the past subjunctive of savoir, not sucer, but I like the error, especially in a harmonica/modern American slang context.
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Andrew.
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Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup.
Last Edited by on Jul 21, 2011 3:39 PM
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arzajac
580 posts
Jul 21, 2011
3:53 PM
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"all of a sudden the simple act of speaking seems - in his eyes - to set him apart from the uneducated."
I think the grandiose wording is sarcastic - Basically saying "to those who think they are apart from the uneducated, please fuck your theory."
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Last Edited by on Jul 21, 2011 3:53 PM
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mikolune
92 posts
Jul 22, 2011
2:41 AM
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Reading this thread, it becomes clear the level of harp players in French and in music theory is about the same :)
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