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Edited on Sun Oct-23-11 07:37 PM by Demoiselle
made me very proud of myself. I had a lovely female Pyrenees (that's a mountain sheep dog) sitting with me on our main street here in Philly when a lady, clearly French, stopped and started to make an affectionate fuss over her. Yes, I said, a Pyrenees. (It is a French breed.) And, in answer to her question, I told her she was called "Sido....com la mere de Colette." Her eyes widened with pleasure and recognition....here I was, an American who not only could say it correctly, but actually knew that Colette's maman was nicknamed Sido. (See-doh, short for Sidonie. Which was also the author Colette's first name.)
The only reason I knew any of it was that I'd read a lovely book once about Colette...an autobiography taken from her own writings, which spoke affectionately of her mother, who was a great "country" woman who knew all sorts of things about plants, animals, farming, etc. I resolved if I ever had a female dog of the French persuasion, I'd name her Sido. Which certainly made sense, since I could hardly name a great furry 130 pound dog with a head the size of a human infant "Colette." As another friend said of my lovely great galumph of a dog..."Nothing of the gamine about her, is there?"
I know it's probably silly, but it always makes me feel measurably (measureably?) smarter to be able to speak a few phrases of French. Yes, I'm a Francophile. And yes, I've nattered on long enough...
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