How I Met my French Husband: The Story of the Fork and the Knife

French Brocante- Blowing Bubbles from a Seashell

 

First I must say I collect seashells.

My first memory I have of a seashell is when my Grandmother Amaro came back from a trip to the Azores. I must have been about five years old. She unsnapped her suitcase and unpacked an enormous seashell, she held it up to my ear and asked, "Do you hear the ocean?" Surprised, I nodded yes. Then she held the seashell to my nose, "Breath in." When I did I made a face. My Grandmother smiled, "That smell is of home, far far away." It was a strange thing to say considering it did not smell very good. But later I would understand that it wasn't a question whether it smelled nice or not, it was to say that the ocean, the island where she was from, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, was far away from the place she called home in the Sacramento Valley.

 

You are probably wonder how this turns into "Fork and Knife"? 

 

Seashells

 

Secondly, my daughter's prenom-first name is, "CHELSEA."

My Father-in-law, Belle-Pere, a man of very few words, let alone English ones, said to me at her birth: "Chelsea is, "Sea-Shell, backwards, non?"

I hadn't thought of that and was amazed he did.

The French pronounce the sound "CH" as "SH", my daughter's name therefore in pronounced, "Shel-sea."

When I was pregnant I mentioned to French Husband that I liked the name; "Chelsea." French Husband was perplexed, mouthed the name without any sound coming out, then despite himself he said, "Chilli, you said Chilli!" That should have been my first clue that names were not pronounced the same, and picking a name that sounded the same in both countries should be foremost of importance.

Unfortunately, I just thought he was making it up, surely he was teasing about the name? It took him weeks to get it right.

French Husband calls our niece Maci, "Messy". He calls our other niece, Molly, "Moully". My Dad use to say, "You can call me what you want as long as you don't call me late for dinner." 

I won't say how French Husband says, "Fork".  Instead I will let you imagine it. And I won't even begin how I slaughter the French language. But I will say that I cannot pronounce the French name "Quentin"… without making it sound like a very bad F word. French Husband swears I do it on purpose. Which I have to remind him, "…And how do you say fork?"

But I will add this to humor you: Fork and knife said by French Husband sounds like, "F_ck an Nice".

 

Img_2436

 

In English we pronounce Yann as Yawn. French pronounce Corey as Core-Ay. Names like Anna sound the same as does Laura, Camy, Pierre or Mark, well more or less the same, but not nearly as butchered as Chelsea. Chelsea would be called,"Jealsee" by her teachers from the first day of school to the end of University.

I will always be Core-Ay, which I cannot stand.

Luckily, in France everyone gets by with Monsieur or Madame, names are something reserved for a future relationship. Though, when you have a prenom that isn't French, you are left as a Madame Américaine forever.

 

Shell-box

 

Do you have a story about your name?



Comments

36 responses to “How I Met my French Husband: The Story of the Fork and the Knife”

  1. RebeccaNYC

    My name in France is always pronounced RAY-becca which I love and which is so much better than the REEEEEE-becca my ex-mother in law used to insist upon. What is funny to me is no matter what country I am in, when people call me by the wrong name by mistake, they always call me Barbara.
    Other funny uses of my name:
    – my baby brother calls me BaRecca.
    – When I am performing in the opera Don Carlo, one of my costumes is a Burkah. So they call me ReBurkah at work. It never ends.

  2. lol to Rebecca’s comment! One of my favourite people is named Rebecca and I never knew her by that, she was always “Reb”!
    My mom told us she named her children after things she needed at the time, eldest brother was “Kim” after a Chinese Warrior she felt should be handy, big sis was “Robyn” because by then she felt she needed happy songs in her life, “Cathi” came along next, named after some celebrity she knew of, hoping for a bit of “look at me” -and by the time I came around she needed, well…I’m named “penni”!
    All my life it has been misspelled or renamed “Peggy”, and I’m constantly asked “What’s your ‘real’ name?” lol I got all the “penny” jokes and after a while I was like your Dad, call me anything and I’ll respond!

  3. my full name Georgeanne Irene is my mother’s family all rolled into one-when my mom was growing up she said she wanted to name her first daughter Georgeanne-GEORGE for her father ANNE for her mom and Irene for her only sister 9 years her junior-so there it was… a tiny baby with a very long name-no one from my childhood or in my house calls me by this name they call me Dolly from Hello Dolly. I have never seen that movie in it’s entirety-My grandpop the one named George would sit me in his hand as an infant and bounce me and sing this song. I bristle when I hear a neighbor or even when my parents would call me by my real name- In high school all my friends called me GEORGE and still do to this day-Only 2 boyfriends have ever addressed be by Dolly one was French(DULLY) and the other one really broke my heart-ever since, it is Georgeanne to partners-I have been called georgina georgeannetta georgieanne, in fact my French teacher never called me by my proper name for over three years -she always stumbled over it but I didn’t care I adored her-so like the others I answer to anything that remotely sounds like Georgeanne -I used to have to produce id before computers became really savvy-they would always drop the anne-I collect seashells too!! I consider them to be gifts from the sea unique and precious!

  4. In junior high school, my father decided that when he grew up and had a daughter that she’d be named “Tamara”. When I was born my mother had no say in my name. However from the get-go she decided to call me “Tami” instead. And I’m particular about how “Tamara” is pronounced. When I was in the first grade the principal came looking for me and called my name. I ignored her. When I was pointed out in class, she asked me why I hadn’t responded. I then said that my name was TAAH-muh-RAH and not Tah-MAHR-rah which sounds like the word “tomorrow” to me. Yes, I was a smartass as a child. I’m surprised that I wasn’t punished for saying that. Oh and I’ve found out that native Spanish speakers pronounce “Tami” so that it sounds like “Tommy”. Nothing much I could do about that so I just had to get used to it. 🙂

  5. Madame in Bangkok

    I hope to prononce your name well lol

  6. Thomas Ed Cole

    I knew Corey at the Abbey.I only have memories of her from that time there. But if I had to re-name her it would be a french name that meant ” God’s smile, God’s laughter” That is how I remember her from the Abbey from so long ago!

  7. Native Lusophones cannot naturally pronounce the English soft “th” sound because it doesn’t exist in the Portuguese language, so I get called “CAH-tee” there. A lot. Or “Catarina.” But, as your dad said, just as long as they don’t call me late for dinner… 🙂

  8. You’d have though Kit would be an easy name for anyone anywhere to get the hang of… but English speaking people often think they haven’t heard right me when I say my name and think it must be Kate. When I worked in Italy it was just too short for anyone to get their heads round and so I ended up just telling them my full name which is Katerina (a much more suitable name for a woman!)and which no-one ever in my whole life has ever called me!

  9. I am called Leenda by the French as they make the I in Linda long. I’ve been told I pronounce Maurice incorrectly. Those r’s are hard for me.

  10. Lol, it is the same in italian. Instead of Stacy, I am stah-chi. 🙂

  11. Ourfrenchoasis

    One of our daughter’s is called Hetty. She was born in the Channel Islands, UK, but has never really lived in the UK, mostly France and America. As anyone who reads my blog knows we just came back from four years living i n Florida, there she was known to everyone as “Heddy” no one could pronounce the clipped English T of Hetty. Now we are permanently in France and she has become “Etty”. I wonder if she will ever be Hetty again!!!

  12. freefalling

    Guests at my Italian father-in-law’s house are asked in English:
    ‘you wanna cock?”
    Um…..
    Of course, he is offering a Coca-Cola!

  13. Tongue in Cheek

    Barbara! Sounds like you have heard it all!

  14. Tongue in Cheek

    Penni or Peggy… Hum your mother named you Penni cause she knew you would bring the money? I want to hear a penny joke!

  15. Tongue in Cheek

    I call you “G”. xx

  16. Tongue in Cheek

    lol Melanie!! I miss you!

  17. Tongue in Cheek

    Ah Ed! I remember that smile of yours too!!

  18. Tongue in Cheek

    LOL that is the best, Coke, Fork and Knife would be an act on SNL

  19. My Mother thought she was clever and named me after the month I was born in, Janus after January. All through school during roll call the teacher would get to my name and pause then tried to call me James, huh? So I would correct them and give my last name which is Van De Putte, no one ever got that right. Even today my name is butchered. My first name is the Roman God Janus and it has no counterpart with greek gods. The god is celebrated on January 9th, hmm my Bday. Wierd right. Otherwise I may have been called Amberdawn or Kelley. I’ll pick Janus any day, even when being made fun of by pronouncing Janus with a long A. Ha!

  20. Marlena Maizar

    When I was pregnant with our daughter I loved the name Jordan for her….
    My German speaking husband quickly dispelled any notion that we would call her that by pronouncing her name the way all her teachers and classmates would…..
    Yore-DAN. Not pretty, I was so disapointed! After many other ideas, with similar results, we settled on Amanda which sounds the same in English and in German!
    And because she was born on 24 December, Noelle as her middle name. Not a bad compromise in the end!

  21. Suji Beckett

    When the professor called my first name during roll call, the boy behind whispered. Virgin for short but not for long. 😉 Cheeky!

  22. My 10 year old son was showing some vacation pictures to a visiting college student from France. One of the pictures was a seal, swimming off the coast of Nantucket. After some pantomime on his part, French student smiled and said “oh! F–k!” Shocked, my son said “We don’t talk that way.” After some scrambling with the dictionary, we learned the French word for seal – la phoque.

  23. My friend named her daughter ‘Bronwyn’.
    Bronwyn became a Francophile and studied at the Sorbonne.
    The French could not pronounce ‘Bronwyn’ nor the shortened version ‘Bronny’
    It sounds more like ‘Brunee’.
    For that reason Bronwyn has named her 2 sons Leonard and Wally because they translate easily across many languages.

  24. My husband and I had a hard time naming our children; bot of them went nameless for over 30 days. He is a Francophone, and wanted a name that works in French, I am Czech and wanted a name that works in Czech, and we live primarily in English, so it had to work that way too. And then, it had to be a name we both liked. A tall order.
    Because everyone loves to criticize baby names, I started calling my burgeoning bump the most outrageous name I could think of, while we went about finding the REAL name. So I called her Tallulah. The funny thing is, by the time she was born, she WAS Tallulah for me, but Pierre insisted that the name did not work in French. Finally, his sister came for a visit, pronounced that she loved the name Tallulah, and the deadlock was broken.
    The really funny thing though is that when we moved to Geneva, and started hanging out in France, French people would keep telling us how beautiful her name is — they just loved it. Ta-lu-lah (as opposed to Ta-LOO-la in English). So Pierre was proved wrong.
    Alas, it was not so fortunate in Czech. An elderly Czech lady pointed out to me that in Czech baby talk (with which I was not familiar), her name comes out as “ta lula”, or “that little girl who pees” (a lot, is the implication). Not inappropriate, given that she peed all over the surgical instruments as soon as she was born, and in keeping with the Choctaw meaning of “waterfall”, but still.
    Anyways, French people always pronounced it beautifully, but back here, people trip over the syllables and mix them up, and she gets called many things, from Talla, to Tulla, to Tatulla, and other permutations and combinations besides.
    As for my name, it sounds much better pronounced the French way (closer to the original Czech) than the English, which makes it heavy and klunky. Mo-nee-ka versus MAH-ni-ka.

  25. When my mother was pregnant with me, during WWII, she read a book “Kristin Lavransdatter”, a trilogy of novels written by Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset. Since a family name for generations in the male line of our family from Norway was Kristian she thought it was a name to connect her first child to that line. Growing up in Scandinavian northwest Seattle there were two other Kristins in my high school, but not until it became a favorite name in the 70’s was it heard very often outside of Scandinavian communities.

  26. My nickname up to middle school was Tina. When I got to middle school asked everyone to please call me Martina. Named after my beloved Grandma, it is an honor to share her name. People have called me marguerite,martinez or marina; and of course martini. One nice thing is that in French my name is Martine-which is the way Grandma spelled her name.

  27. Teddee Grace

    May we Pin your images as long as we give you credit? I love the little seashell salter.

  28. Burning question: How does one pronounce YANN in French? (I have been pronouncing it as”yawn”.) Is it more like YANN, rhymes with Ann/pan/Fran/man? Help!

  29. I was named after my mom’s two aunts, Rose and Mary. When I was in high school, I changed to a new school in the middle of freshman year. I was assigned classes, given a quick tour and dumped in the lunchroom with a group of girls at a table. The guidance counselor introduced me to the group, ‘this is Rosemary’. I overheard one of the girls whisper to another, ‘what will we have next, Gertrude?’. How rude! My name was unusual growing up, until the film Rosemary’s Baby. Then everyone would ask, ‘how’s your baby’! Now I like my name, but not as a child. And my maiden name LaMontagne. That’s another story!!

  30. I just love your name stories. They do make me smile.
    My name is Marilyn and I don’t really have any unique stories except to say young children often cannot pronounce it. My sister called me Maremare because she couldn’t say it. I was afraid that would stick, whew! It didn’t.

  31. My name is Kaya…rhymes with Papaya. It could have been worse, my dad wanted to call me Thule (pronounced:Too-ly). Thank goodness that my mother vetoed that.
    Most people see my name and they call me Kay-ah. I hate that!!!
    When I was a little girl I wished that my name was Cindy…I thought that Cindy was the prettiest name ever. Now I’m happy to be Kaya.

  32. I have always hated my name. I remember in 3rd grade, my French teacher decided my name in class should be Denise – well, I hated that too. You see, when I was born, my aunt was in the hospital after losing many, many unborn children. My mother asked her if she would like to name me. My aunt could not decide between Katherine or Debra. I have always wanted to be Katie.

  33. Beau Pere Corey BEAU not Belle;)

  34. on the “See a penny, pick it up all the day ’twill bring you luck.”—
    “Hey my mom told me to pick you up!” Then they’d literally pick me up, or just the reverse, someone would pick me up and when I was surprised they’d respond with “It’s a rule, I have to pick you up.” (got a lot of dates with that line)
    My children were referred to as “small change”.
    An Asian man I worked for once told me he questioned actually hiring me because a ‘penny’ is the lowest denomination of currency in America, and therefore could possibly bring bad luck to his business. I replied by saying this was true, however if he hired me he’d never be penniless. He made me the manager. : )
    And my favourite:
    While still in High School, there was a reference addressed to my then boyfriend (current hubby going on 39yrs) in the “Gossip Column” of the school paper which only said: “A Penny for your thoughts John.” I still have that clipping in a memory book!

  35. My name is actually French: Aimée. Growing up in the United States you can imagine how I was butchered: M-ay, M-ee, Amy, May. In a Puerto Rico: I-may. When I finally visited France it was such a wonder to hear my name said correctly day after day!

  36. Brenda, Walker, LA

    Being a “Brenda” I have been mistakenely called “Debrah” and “Barbara” , I really don’t get the connection, perhaps the “d” and the “b” (?)
    What a sweet memory of your grandma!

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