un mot/a word

later this summer i have to take a language proficiency test so that grad school knows for sure i possess the necessary language skills to order up a plate of soy'cargot should i find myself peckish and stranded à paris anytime soon.

i have my BA in french but since graduating more than 6 years ago it's been about as useful as that foot long shoe horn they sell at ikea (i know you've seen it too). so since i have to prove my linguistic worthiness i'm trying to surround myself with as much francophilia as i can stomach- music, books, newspapers, movies etc. once upon a time there was a practical purpose behind learning french. i was sure that at some point i was headed to west africa with the peace corps- i figured knowing french would be handy just in case i was abducted by rebels and felt it advantageous to barter for my life... or on the off chance i needed to explain the size and color of the rabid monkey that had just mauled me.

despite going through the rather tedious application process (complete with fingerprinting) and being assigned to the ivory coast, i didn't go in the end thanks to a promotion and some family stuff.

so my french has been gathering dust ever since.

over the weekend i was reading le monde and came across a word that made me giggle. i don't know why, it just sounded funny. and ever since, at random moments it's been popping into my head. superpuissance.

superpuissance- (noun) literally translated as 'superpower'...
pronounced su-PAIR-pweeee-saunce.

when said out loud it sounds like a million things other than the word for 'superpower.' it conveys more of a 'i'm a weathered old french madame, smoking my ubertoxic gaulois cigarette and walking my obnoxious foiegrasfedsweaterwearingminidog on the left bank, waiting for him to take his daily superpuissance right in the middle of the sidewalk.' the whole concept of post-pet cleanups hasn't exactly caught on, so sidewalksuperpuissances are a daily hazard.

while i'm killing the last hour of the work day babbling about french... i also love that the french had to come up with a new word for supermarket. supermarché just didn't cut it anymore. we need something bigger- something better... something with that certain je ne sais quoi...

and thus was born l'hypermarché.

i'll be right back, j.mo- just got to run down to the neighborhood hypermarket for some stankcheese and stale bread...


eeeeeehhhhhh mon dieu, la lune.... she is zee finest superpuissance in zeee galaxie...