Back / Side

You may be looking at the title of this post and thinking well jeez, I thought the whole point of this blog was to discuss new french vocabulary, learn some new french sayings, and keep Hannah on track, you know. But those words...those are English! And that brings me to the subject of this post -- English in France by way of discussing ultimate frisbee. One of the strange things about being in France is the amount of English words that have slipped into the French language, but have become to ingrained that one may as well be speaking french while saying them. A good example: if you walk into a bar and say "Je voudrais un cocktail" and pronounce cocktail like you would in English, the bartender will look at you funny and have no idea what you're asking for, even though the first three words you used were french. However, if you walk into a bar and say "Je voudrais un cocktail" in your best french accent (making it more like COQUE-tale) then the bartender will smile at you and hand you a martini or whatever it is you specify you would like. One of the weird things about speaking French here is that sometimes I won't know a word and will ask someone to translate for me and it'll turn out that it's the same word in English, just said with a french accent. I'm always a littlleee disappointed when this happens, though. It's like hello, I'm trying to learn a NEW language here! Alas.
Anyways, so the place where this english-ization has come up the most is during frisbee. I joined a club team here and practice with the women on Monday nights and sometimes go to co-ed pickup on Wednesdays, and the people are a real mish-mash of French, British, Australian, ex-pats, and American students studying abroad. Since Ultimate is really an American sport but we happen to be in France, the language that gets spoken is a strange mix of the two. For example, in America, we say "forehand" and "backhand" for the two main throws. In France, they are called "side" and "back." There are a million other little examples of this (my favorite is when they just say "eye contact!" -- which appears to be a phrase used in french made of solely english words), and one of the best parts about going to practice is that I'm constantly picking up on subtle vocabulary differences. Also, it's one of the only times during my week where I am immersed in colloquial french -- not the classroom/formal language of professors, but real, live French people! However the amount of English being spoken is enough that I never feel completely lost in terms of what we're actually practicing. I mean, it's not like these women are "speaking" English, but the words/vocabulary being used are so frequently the same in English ultimate-speak that I'm never that far behind what's going on.

Google Maps view of the Stade Charlety (That little dark-green part of a field on the left is where we practice!)

Also, it's been so nice to meet real French women who love ultimate! Sonya, one of the captains, has been playing ultimate for 15 years and has jerseys from literally all over the world. So far I've seen some from Colombia, Russia, Germany, and Canada. She also has a lovely habit of saying "Namaste" instead of "Bonjour" or "Salut" and then making all the American students (there are 4 of us) practice our "bises" or cheek-kisses with her. SO FRENCH. Also, tonight was the first time I made a joke in French! That's a big deal, because usually I'm just too nervous about what's actually coming out of my mouth to try and be funny, but tonight the timing was right and I was throwing with Bérénice (and man she is ALL about throwing it as hard as she can without any regard for you catching it) and I made a joke about the wind! In french! It was great. She laughed. Also it's awesome to hear cheers of "Allez les filles!" (go girls!) at practice or to take some time to watch the "mecs" (dudes) scrimmage. All in all, I'm really glad I've found a place to play frisbee here not just so that I have a place to run around (so necessary for my mental and physical health) or so that I can keep up my skills (I'm coming for you soon [stickies]!) but also a place where I can hear more French, speak more French and meet more French people, even if it is laced with American ultimate lingo.