One evening after arriving here I was told that I had a lot of hair on the back of my shirt. I tried to respond with a little humor, but it didn’t quite work. What I said was, “Je suis une chienne.” What I meant was, “I am a dog.” What I really said was, “I am a bitch.” So, when I was told about my mistake I changed it to “D’accord, je suis une chatte.” What I meant was, “Ok then, I am a cat.” What I really said was, “OK, I am a pussy,” (and not the feline kind…double oops!)

Down the road, my French began to improve, but only slowly. I tried telling someone that I was joking by saying “J’étais blague.” That didn’t work at all except for the fact that I got a few howls for weeks on that one. It doesn’t really mean anything, but as I learned it is certainly not proper French. Even though blague means joke, I should have said “J’étais drôle.” Voila, now I know.

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