Refraction

Écoute – je vais pas te dire que j’écoutais beaucoup les Cowboys Fringants après avoir quitté la France (pour le Canada, quelle ironie).
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kto ci powiedział, że wolno ci się przyzwyczajać?
kto ci powiedział, że cokolwiek jest na zawsze?
czy nikt ci nie powiedział, że nie będziesz nigdy
w świecie
czuł się jak u siebie w domu?

–Stanisław Barańczak

who told you that you were permitted to settle in?
who told you that this or that would last forever?
did no one ever tell you that you will never
in the world
feel at home in the world?
(trans. Frank Kujawinski)

Feelin’ restless. I tell myself it’s because I’ve been cooped up writing my thesis, but I wonder if it’s not because I feel cooped up by something else, something that’s been going on longer than this thesis push.

There’s one thing I have to say so I’ll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I’m not sorry I met you
I’m not sorry it’s over
I’m not sorry there’s nothing to save
I’m not sorry there’s nothing to save

Watching the Stars secret show in Toronto… I’m very convinced this band has a hold on my heart for a very long time. Drama? Check. Boy/girl vocals? Check. Songs of love won and lost? Check.

And to think, I never would have gotten into them if I hadn’t randomly followed up on a concert poster I saw a few years ago on my way to work. Funny how that works.

I am completely outing myself as a prescriptivist grammarian here, but I can’t be the only one who winces when native speakers say “I would have went.” Don’t even get me started on the decline of the subjunctive mood in English.

My boss’ pet peeve is “Me neither” (which he’s caught me on twice), but that doesn’t make my ears hurt, at least.

Comment 106 here:

For us, we choose who we wanted to invite (everyone) and then chose a venue and a budget to suit. […] Friends were far more important than some overpriced venue or food.

Going to have to keep this mind if I ever get married.

I think I can finally remember the meaning of the French phrase “à l’insu de” (though more commonly “à notre insu, à mon insu”)

in – not; su – PP of savoir, to know => insu – not known

“à mon insu” – “without my knowing, unbeknowst to me”

In addition to all the usual stuff about weather, health, and security, there’s this line:
Eviter les remarques sur l’accent québécois.

XD

It blows my mind that @riefuofficial follows @viennateng! Unbelievable!

(And I only knew this because I follow @loveyanen!)

Phoenix makes me pretty happy. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix sounds like a happy album, but reveals itself to be a little more somber underneath (just look at the lyrics). That doesn’t stop me from adoring this album to bits. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of them before last fall.

“so sentimental, not sentimental, no…”

Also terribly excited to be seeing them live in September! My entertainment budget has shifted to concerts from travel, clearly.

Stumbled onto Wikipedia’s article on perronismes, which reminds me of English mixed metaphors.

Never quite having fully grasped what a mixed metaphor was (and being unable to come up with them on demand), I found the examples presented here interesting. Perhaps they’re easier to see when it’s not your native language? Plus—it’s always a joy when such things can be translated correctly, with the right amount of awkwardness.

“Atteindre la lumière au fond du baril”
“To reach the light at the bottom of the barrel”

“La forêt vierge est une forêt où la main de l’homme n’a jamais mis le pied. ”
“Virgin forest is a forest where the hand of man has never set foot.”