Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Doing Things Like Your Parents Did?

Doing Things Like Your Parents Did?

 

When on the phone, French Husband puts his hand like this (photo above). He puts his hand in his pants, but that doesn't sound right; plus, it is not that at all, but it doesn't sound better to say he puts his fingers under his belt. Anyway, he lifts his shirt; you can see above what I mean.

 

Doing Things Like Your Parents Did?

 

We were out having a drink in Marseille with Sacha, Chelsea, and our friend Thierry (Another friend named Thierry. Thierry was a very popular boy's name in France in the mid-sixties.)

I have said to French Husband that when I meet someone in their fifties, I can be pretty sure their name will be one of the following:

Girl's Name a la Mode in the late 50s:

Martine

Catherine

Natalie

Veronique

Francoise

Popular Boy Names in France in the late 1950s:

Thierry

Alain

Patrick

Bernard

Philippe

Christian

 

And this year, the most famous names are:

French girl names:

Louise

Jade

Lea

Chloe

Lola

Emma

French boy's names:

Raphael

Timeo

Mathis

Jules

Louis

Lucas.

 

Blogging friends

 (Here I am with one of Yann's childhood friends, Thierry. I am sure my mom is reading this and is saying, "Oh my God, Thierry!! He hasn't changed a bit!" By the way, don't ask what I am doing with my hand—I am most likely trying to cover my double chin!)

 

Anyway, I am getting away from the point of this story, and if you know me, you know that is a constant problem when I am talking to someone… I go from one subject to another to another and need to remember the point altogether.

 

Anyway, we were having a drink (If ever you are in Marseille, an excellent place for lunch or for a drink late afternoon or evening is Caravelle; follow this link by clicking here: http://www.lacaravelle-marseille.com/), and well, the French Husband's phone rang (like it does a million times), and like always, when he started talking, he put his hand on his back and traced his fingers under his belt.

 

Sacha gasped, not because his dad was doing his thing in public, but because he realized he does the same thing.

Oh, those family traits… those reincarnation tidbits of our family history embedded in our being.

 

 

 

Doing Things Like Your Parents Did?

 

Oh well.

It could be worse.

I never noticed it before until Sacha mentioned it. Then the reality struck me: "He does that all the time!"

 

What mannerisms do you have of your parent?

Comments

22 responses to “Doing Things Like Your Parents Did?”

  1. Joy Haefke

    When my Mom’s arthritis was acting up, she would frequently groan slightly when she sat down. I asked once if that made her feel better. Her answer was, “Just you wait!” Yesterday, as I emitted a small groan when I sat down, my husband asked if that made me feel better. Since he’s older than I, I couldn’t use my Mom’s answer. Instead, I bopped him with a throw pillow!
    (Incidentally, Corey, I’ve been reading your blog regularly for years. I don’t subscribe. I go to your blog. In the past several weeks, it takes forever to load. I click on it, go to get some coffee, and often, it still isn’t up. I’m patient, so it’s ok, but I thought you might want to know.)

    Reply
  2. La Contessa

    Who’s lipstick are you featuring?IT is FABULOUS on you………..

    Reply
  3. martina

    I hold my hand under my chin just like Grandma (a friend pointed this out after seeing photos of Grandma). Cousin told me I habitually lean sideways towards others when pictures are being taken.. “Grandma used to do the same thing and I don’t know why”. Told him it is because she was short like me and probably wanted to be sure to be seen in the photo. Oh..and I’m named after my Grandma!

    Reply
  4. g

    Corey you do not have a double chin you look WONDERFUL in this picture! the lips and nails divine!

    Reply
  5. Leigh NZ

    Love the matching lips and nails tres chic!
    People mistake me for my mother if I answer her phone as our voices and the way we speak sounds the same. We also share the same mannerisims and often say or think of the same thing at the same time. We also have the same taste in things…OMG I’ve turned into my mother!!

    Reply
  6. Franca Bollo

    I swear like a sailor, damn it.

    Reply
  7. Janet with Eiffel

    Joy
    What is that groaning anyway?
    I used to make fun of my Grandmother
    every time she did it.
    Now I catch myself doing it (often).
    Especially when getting into or out of
    the car.
    And no, it doesn’t make me feel better,
    just makes me sound like my Grandmother
    getting out of the car !!!
    By the way, I too have noticed the
    really slow loading of Corey’s blog.
    I, unlike you, am not patient,
    but Corey is well worth the wait !!

    Reply
  8. g

    I cannot believe you both wrote about the time thing-same here I just thought it was my crazy computer-it takes a while to access the brocante too-

    Reply
  9. Marilyn

    Smiling! Yes, I see and hear things come from my husband that his father did. There is something in the jeans/genes.

    Reply
  10. Leigh NZ

    Same here, Corey’s blog takes a while to down load especially the photos. Worth the wait though.

    Reply
  11. Patti L

    My husband is speedy like his father… zip here, and zip there and leave everyone else in the dust. One time we were going to dinner in San Francisco where we had to take an elevator to the restaurant. My father in law jumped in and was being whisked off before anyone else could catch up. Mom in law just said “and there he goes!” with a sign of resignation.

    Reply
  12. Laurie SF

    I cross my legs, and tend to bounce my foot…when mad.
    My Mother still does this, and I have followed suit.
    The men in our lives tend to scatter when this behavior is observed.
    ‘What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing!”-says the bouncing foot.

    Reply
  13. Tongue in Cheek

    Thank you for telling me! I thought it was just me. I will figure it out and correct it. If you do not notice a difference let me know. I am groaning xxx

    Reply
  14. Tongue in Cheek

    The lipstick is from KIKO, http://www.kikocosmetics.fr/maquillage/levres/rouges-a-levres/Double-Touch-Lipstick/p-KM00201011
    #112

    Reply
  15. Linda P.

    Patti L., I just wanted you to know that you brightened my morning with this story. I laughed out loud. My father was a speedy man, too, and I can so imagine him doing this.

    Reply
  16. Linda P.

    My voice is like my mother’s. I, like her, am shy in crowds and a serious type of person, an introvert. However, as she did, if something strikes me as incongruous, I giggle in inappropriate places or at inappropriate times and then can’t stop. For example, decades ago, when the priest was swinging the thurible back and forth in church and I whispered to my then preschooler that he was spreading the incense, she thought I said he was spreading “insects.” I giggled through the rest of the very serious service, and we were sitting right up front.

    Reply
  17. Shannon Marie

    I have my mother’s restless spirit. I am in constant motion and bounce around like a lemming. Just to say, about your blog, I have no trouble loading it! I use a Mac and Safari as my browser, if that makes a difference. But everyone is right, you are worth it! 🙂
    What does Chelsea do that is like you two??

    Reply
  18. Peggy Braswell

    I always goran just like my mom & grandmother when sitting + myself & friends call those gorans, “mona-a de goran-a”. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

    Reply
  19. Kate in Saskatchewan

    I can believe you never noticed it till now! My son was about 16 when my spouse said to me, “Haven’t you ever noticed the little dance Emil does every morning when he first comes out to the kitchen?” After that I noticed that Emil would step into the room, then lift up his shirt and check to see if his belly was still there (I guess), then touch his belly and his back before putting his shirt down and carrying on toward his day.

    Reply
  20. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    Just like your parents, Franca Bollo?

    Reply
  21. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    I don’t know what I do like one of my parents (but my sister is visiting so I’ll have to ask her if she knows of any odd traits.) Odd traits I have aplenty but like Mom and Dad? I dunno.
    I’m back on most popular French baby names in 50’s and now. So interesting to see that some of the girl names, especially Emma, seem to have jumped from one country/language to another. I can waste lots of time on this site — http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager — happily typing in random names, or even just a few letters, and seeing when they were/are most popular. I wonder if France has one of these too.
    “Rebecca” was at peak of popularity in early 50’s when I was born (although I was named after my great-grandmother) then dipped, then peaked even more in 1970, and has dropped to very little usage currently.
    “Corey” was just barely coming on the scene as a boy&girl name in 1950’s, peaked bigtime in 1980, then downhill again.
    Curiously, “Franca Bollo” and “Diogenes” don’t seem to make the list at all.

    Reply
  22. Andrea

    There is a “look” that I give when I am VERY displeased. I have zero control over it. It just happens, though happily not terribly often. I can’t do it on purpose, my face just sort of forms “the look”. My maternal grandmother did it, my mother did, I do it and my daughter does it as well. Family members know that if that see the look, it’s time to head for the exit. Be afraid, be very afraid.

    Reply

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