Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 07:17:41 -0400 From: Vest per Teen Subject: BLAGUES-L: The French and the English language Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 23:11:38 -0600 From: E.W.SMITH Janet Mackay wrote: A Frenchman studied English for 45 years. At the end of this time, he reckoned he knew every nuance of the language. He could do impressions of regional accents, he knew idiomatic and formal speech, and, most importantly of all in his estimation, he had every strange and irregular English spelling at his fingertips. So he decided finally to visit England. (He'd never been before as he felt that his accent would make him a laughing stock). He got on the train at Gare du Nord, looking forward to his first trip to London. Arriving at Waterloo, he went to the theatre district to take a look around. When he stood outside the first theatre, however, he suddenly went pale, then screamed "I'll NEVER understand this language" and threw himself under a bus. Passers-by wondered why he'd reacted this way just because of a poster on the theatre that read "Hamlet: Pronounced success".