"Say la gare"?

Factual Questions
41

k.os—Merci beaucoup pour son explication exhaustive! Je sais bien d’où tu viens. Il y a deux mois depuis que j’ai pris un travail secondaire comme enseignateur de l’anglais. J’enseigne des étrangers qui, bien sûr, me démander des questions concernant des règles de ma langue maternelle dont il ne me faut pas penser. Ces règles sont assez naturels pour moi que respirant; je ne dois jamais y penser. Quand des questions comme cela apparaient, il faut que l’on arrêter et considerer ses habitudes plus que… d’habitude.

Jenny Taylor—Well, an American can do anything he wants, if he puts his mind to it, whether he’s a mouse or not. That probably applies to other nationalities, too. Anyway, it’s not my mouse that puts the letters on the screen; I use my keyboard. Seriously, what’s this American mouse thing mean? It’s not that I’m offended; I don’t think I should be, but what do I know? It’s more that I’m confused. What am I missing?

42

Chance

Thanks. I’m glad I could help. As far as Jenny’s question, I think she’s talking about Tom&Jerry, not you.

43

Oi! Stray too far from the original point, and look what happens. Her point is valid, though. Sometimes we used to get American mice in the house I grew up in, and they never spoke French, not even demotic.

I never heard Tom speak in those cartoons, except to screech in agony when he got stuck with a sword. Come to think of it, I never heard Tom speak except in this one where he donned a zoot suit and endeavored to use bop talk. “All reet all root all right!” Man, that was, like, one gone cat, dig?