Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Chelsea’s French Friends: Conversation Mishaps

Chelsea's best friends (since junior high) spent the night last night. I was giddy to see them.

Lea is finishing up her master's in humanitarian law, and will spend six months in Nepal starting in August. Of course Chelsea and I have our fingers crossed that we can visit her. Domi is an emergency care nurse working in Belgium, but is leaving to go work and live in Guyane (Brazil). The three of them have remained friends throughout their studies, travels and work.

As them three of them crashed in Chelsea bedroom, Domi and Lea plopped on the bed pronouncing it fluffy. Then they asked what the difference was between the words:

Fluffy and Puffy.

 

Clouds are fluffy?

Marshmallows are fluffy?

Pillows are puffy?

Curtains are puffy?

A bed is fluffy?

Try describing the difference between the two words!?

This morning after seeing myself in the bathroom mirror I moaned, "Oh my eyes are so puffy!" Domi hearing this leans towards Chelsea and asks, "Why does your mom says her ass is puffy?" 

You see if you say eyes with a French accent it sounds like ass. If you say eyes in English it can sound like ass to a French person. This is my world, puffy eyes that sounds like puffy ass. Though all I heard was, "…her ass is puffy?" Which I said, "Thanks alot you got that right."

Never a dull moment when it comes to living with two languages spoken at once with a heavy accents.

 

Comments

12 responses to “Chelsea’s French Friends: Conversation Mishaps”

  1. Lorrie

    Love this! What fun to have your daughter’s friends over. I’ll bet they love you.

    Reply
  2. Kiki

    the story of my life with French spoken Hero Husband…. 🙂
    But we also often have serious misunderstandings in the sense of ‘He doesn’t understand the sense of what I say’ because in his language it sounds different…. I then tell him to ‘keep his hair on’ which is funny because he doesn’t have that much hair left…. and he can get upset yet another time!
    We also have barrels of fun with those misunderstandings and one of our favourite saying is:
    Nous nous entendons très bien mais nous nous comprenons mal. (we get along very well but we misunderstand each other – so much nicer in English!)
    On the whole, it’s FUN!

    Reply
  3. Lynne

    What fun you are “fluffy/puffy!!
    Really like that “the girls” are still going strong through their schooling, grad school, travels, locations . . . and with a slumber party too!

    Reply
  4. suzanna

    hilarious, I’ll keep that in mind, eyes…sounds like _____! LOL
    yet such a sweet sound, the sound of the french language ~ aww

    Reply
  5. Dori

    oh….much giggling here! Thank you for sharing! : )

    Reply
  6. Marilyn

    You do make me smile.
    Puffy is something that, like a balloon, has been blown up with air. Fluffy stands on it’s own. Oh dear, not sure what I am saying.

    Reply
  7. Kathie B

    Welcome to the translator’s world, having to navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of such narrow distinctions!
    My computer’s dictionary defines “fluffy” as “soft, as though covered with fine hairs or down [feathers].”
    It defines “puffy” as “being puffed out [don’tcha just lurrvvve circular definitions???]; used of hair style or clothing; ‘a bouffant skirt’” — or as, “distended beyond normal size esp by fluids or gas; ‘hungry children with bloated stomachs’; eyes with puffed blurry lids’; ‘swollen hands’; ‘puffy tumid [swollen] flesh’”

    Reply
  8. Rhonda

    I laughed so hard at this, I believe I was born with a puffy behind…sigh

    Reply
  9. Patti L

    One day I had been getting ready to go out, putting on makeup, curling iron on my hair…when I came out, my grandson announced “Grammi has been getting all puffed up and cute!” Of course that stuck, so I always get “puffed up” before I go out.

    Reply
  10. Linda P.

    What a treat for you to not only see Chelsea but also enjoy a visit with her two friends. Since we have moved away from the town we lived in when our girls were in high school, we seldom see their old friends. There are two wonderful exceptions: their husbands. Each knew or dated her future husband during her high school years.

    Reply
  11. Diogenes

    puffy is gonflé in French.
    fluffy started out being like a mousee and did not change its consistency. 🙂

    Reply
  12. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    hahahahahaha

    Reply

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