[QUOTE=Larry Mudd]
“Mangerais-tu ma queue?” Is that right? French is hard, damn it. I am going to spend the next couple of years sounding like a complete idiot. (Even when I’m trying to express things aren’t existentially idiotic.)
[/QUOTE]
Veux-tu me sucer ? would be better. And don’t worry, as long as we see you are making an effort, we won’t tar and feather you 
[QUOTE=detop]
And don’t worry, as long as we see you are making an effort, we won’t tar and feather you
[/QUOTE]
Well, that’s a relief.
Seriously. The first time I went to Quebec on my own, back in '92, with no-one meeting me at the train or anything, I was so scared of making mistakes that I was sick to my stomach and didn’t eat all day and barely opened my mouth.
I’ve gotten a lot better at this kind of thing.
I live on a street full of those outdoor staircases (Plateau, yeah!)… in fact, I have to climb one to get to my apartment. Our street is all five or six-plexes, with one or two apartments on the ground floor, an outside staircase to get to the second floor, which has three doors to the balcony: two for the second floor apartments and one for the indoor staircase that leads to the third floor, which has two apartments. And yes, they are all numbered as individual addresses, rather than apartments. A lot of them are condos, actually.
Seems no one knows why they are like this, but that it is probably a matter of cost and efficiency (isn’t everything?). http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2007/03/20/the-outdoor-staircase/
The last comment there seems reasonable.
They aren’t so bad in the winter, actually, mostly because nowadays, most have been rubberized to make it easier to climb them.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
…so my brain doesn’t seize up as quickly when speaking to a beautiful Québecoise. (Why, yes, I spent my long weekend in Montréal.)
[/QUOTE]
Well, if your brain doesn’t seize up when you’re speaking to beautiful English-speaking women, then you have it made. No lessons needed!
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo]
Well, if your brain doesn’t seize up when you’re speaking to beautiful English-speaking women, then you have it made. No lessons needed!
[/QUOTE]
Actually, my beain tends to seize up when speaking to beautiful women of any language. But internal linguistic battles lower the threshold of seizure, so to speak.
Mnemosyne, the comments in your link are interesting. The place where I was staying was north of metro Jarry, and it looked to be about seventy or so years old. many of the places along rue la Jeum=nesse had older steeper staircases that made a kind of double curve, the ones that I suspect are outlawed in new construction according to the comments. I expect they were grandfathered in.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
Yup.
[/QUOTE]
You are possibly the only person I know who can order at the store in Esperanto.
In all seriousness, is there a good place I can start learning? I’m kind of intrigued by the language now…
[QUOTE=Kythereia]
You are possibly the only person I know who can order at the store in Esperanto.
In all seriousness, is there a good place I can start learning? I’m kind of intrigued by the language now…
[/QUOTE]
There’s a ten-lesson beginner’s course, which many people start off with, and which was traditionally done by snailmail. I did it by email. Lernu.net ( http://www.lernu.net/ ) is one place that has online courses.
If you want to meet real live speakers, you can come to a meeting of the Esperanto-Rondo de Toronto* (Esperanto Circle of Toronto, the local Esperanto club), which meets every Monday night (except holiday Mondays) at Bay and College.
Or you could go to Montréal and hang out with matt_mcl. 
[sub]*Disclaimer: I am a member of the Esperanto-Rondo de Toronto and among other things maintain its webpages.[/sub]