Today is Bastille Day, or so I thought, until Monsieur corrected me this morning.
“In France it’s called ‘le quatorze juillet’ or if you have to use the word ‘Bastille’, it’s ‘le jour de la prise de la Bastille’. Otherwise, it’s ‘la Fête Nationale.’
I was confused.
‘So no one calls it ‘le jour de la Bastille’?
‘No, darling. Only the Anglo-Saxons call it Bastille Day.’ Strike 163 for this particular anglo-saxone. It would seem I’ve been making this mistake every 14 July for a very, very long time, but that’s why I love living with Monsieur. He’s like a living encyclopaedia-stroke-dictionary of France and everything French.
Anyway, on a slightly different tangent, at recent London Bloggers Meet-ups, we’ve been discussing the merits of general interest blogs versus specialised blogs. The blog you’re reading now is somewhat generalised and that’s why I enjoy writing it – with micro-specialties in travel and food, if I feel like writing about the idiotic buzzwords I hear in meetings, I can. If I find a funny blog to share with my readers, I can. If I’m mad because the tube has FAILED again, I can mention it and you can rant back through the comments function. I can even join in Singleforareason’s latest photo challenge or talk about the world of blogging. That’s why Epicurienne is what it is.
Today, I’m launching a second blog with a specialty area – being Frenchified. I’ve loved France as long as I can remember, and even if I do manage to mix up the word for parrots (un perroquet) with the word for wigs (une perruque), I try hard to use the French I’ve been attempting to master since I was twelve. So here goes: a blog about France, the French and the cultural differences they never taught me about at university. It’s called Frenchified and you will find it at http://frenchified.wordpress.com
