>Nice to hear from you, Andre. Your English is quite good, and your >stories are interesting. I hope you continue to contribute here. Your >voice will be a welcome addition. >Paul Stenquist
Thanks for the welcome. I'll be able to manage the flow of PDML e-mails when I'm in town and hopefully answer a few questions when I feel competent. Answer... or ask! Bernd wrote: One thing I don't understand: What's about the subject -frog-? >Frank wrote: > >Hi, Bernd, >"Frog" is a derogatory term for a francophone. When I was a kid growing up in >Montreal, we anglos would get beat up if we dared call any french >speaking kids frogs (well, I did, anyway). > >Actually, I'm glad that Andre has a sense of humour about it. The word has never been sent at me this way as a child as I have never lived in Montreal where the two communities are in contact. I learned about the word while working in Alberta in the 70s. But it doesn't bear anything emotionnal. I sure can make fun of it. I do hope my "bloke" friends (bloke with the o as in "stroke") can do the same. French-canadian's ancestors, in Europe, would eat frog legs and their neighbors across the Channel wouldn't at all, and gave a bad note to this disgusting behaviour. Probable origin of this use. Now, why do we call english-canadians "blocks" or "block heads" ? >By the way, Andre, welcome to the list. I've seen you post a few >times before, but thanks for the little bio. I figured you might be >Quebecois, with a name like Langevin (pretty common French Canadian >name). regards, frank Langevin indeed sounds french, probably means "the one fron Anjou" (maybe to distinguish two Boucher that were on the same boat 350 years ago). Neither common, not rare. About as common as Theriault. There are also many french names for people and towns in United States. Nicest one I've seen is Coeur d'Alene (Montana). In '77, in British Columbia, I found that name on my map just before crossing the border and told the officer, who noticed I has only 20$ in my pockets, I was going to meet some cousins in Coeur d'Alene. He did not believe me. I eventually did it somewhere else and, thanks to the kindness of people who picked me up, travelled 2 weeks (down to the Las Vagas military base!). I wasn't taking photos back then thought. >William Robb wrote: >As an aside, a French Canadian using the term "fr*g" to identify >oneself is similar to the recent phenomonem in the US of people >of African desent using the term "n*gger" as a self identifier. >IE: it seems OK for the person to use the term to identify his >or her self and others of his/her racial ancestry, but not OK >for an outsider to go there. >Sort of like that silly way some people get clubby and relate to >everyone not of their peer group as "civilians", except >offensive. >I find racial epithets to be disagreeable and offensive, whether >used to identify oneself, or someone else. I understand your feelings. I've used the word in a childish way and you won't find anybody else around here doing what I've done. I'm an anthropologist at play... But people using these words (for the others) in real life, there are, of course. We're talking about a very common and fundamental behaviour, probably the basis of identity (to give a name to the group besides yours). True, there are situations where politeness, or polically correctness, impides their use. I really tried to make fun of me more than anything else here as I knew thare were quite a few canadians on the list. Now, don't ask me anything that relates to canadian politics, I'll probably answer that f/8 is your best stop... Pat White wrote: >Eh, ben, un autre Quebecois! J'etais ne (excuse la manque de >l'accent sur le "e") en Irlande, et j'ai passe` (?) un quinzaine >d'annees proche a la Ville de Quebec. Je suis rendu maintenant a >Victoria. Eniwe, welcome to the list! Eniwe is anyway, as we say it in french... Curiously, french people from France use more english words than us but english has influenced deeper language structures here, like syntaxis. Still, there are 7 million people speaking (as their first language) french in America, most of them in Quebec. Quechua is the fourth most important linguistic group in America with over 10 million speakers (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia). >Do you have many shots of the Chateau and the Porte St-Louis? Most friday nights I cross the Porte St-Louis with my bike, and stop at a friend's house two blocks from Chateau Frontenac. Can you believe I have just never thought about taking them in photo... The question now is "how can I take a different photo of those monuments..." Better give it a try during winter. >Sounds like you're doing some technical photography, but having fun >with it. That's what it's about. Happy shooting! This technical or analytical trip is... just one trip. And some PDMLers are on that wagon, so I'll have fun with them. But what I really find "trippant", as most of you, is picking what makes sense around me with a camera and a lens. I'll post one shot to the PUG every month, as most of us do I guess. Thanks for the greetings, Andre -- - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
