Françoism

My father was witty and always had something to add to a conversation with what I call a Françoism. Some of them were quoting other people, some of them were his own. Here is a list of those that I rememberright now... There are a lot more and I'm sure there will be a part 2 and more coming later.

Some are in French and they don't always translate well, but I will write both the French and the English versions.

Etrange, étrange, étrange,

A l'ombre d'un palmier

Je mange une orange.

De plus en plus étrange,

A l'ombre d'une orange

Je mange un palmier.

In French étrange, orange and mange rhyme.

Strange, strange, strange,

In the shadow of a palm tree

I eat an orange.

Even stranger now,

In the shadow of an orange

I eat a palm tree.

Oh verre plein comme je te vide!

Oh verre vide comme je te plaint!

In French, plein (full) and plaint (suffer) rhyme.

Oh full glass how I empty you!

Oh empty glass how I suffer for you!

Here is a story that my dad told me once. It stuck.

We were discussing Hemingway one day when Dad said:

"I was at the movie theater,

the old fashion type with a balcony and I saw Hemingway.

I asked my friend that was with me 'Is that Hemingway down there?'

My friend replied: 'Hemingway is dead!'

To which I screamed 'AAAHHHH!'

My friend panickly inquired: 'What's wrong?'

'He moved!!'

More later...