Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 80, No. 51 - December 23, 2021
Try Holiday Meals From Around the World
It’s already the holidays and naturally turkey, ham, pumpkin spice, and gingerbread are on everyone’s minds. Along with creating the picture-perfect tablescape, people look forward to spending time together gathered around the table exchanging stories and sharing
laughs. While classics such as prime rib, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce usually make an appearance among the spread, there’s more to be discovered. Around the world, people put their own spin on their festive meals. We thank the Lawndale Library
for their wonderful suggestion. For holiday recipe ideas from around the world to add to your menu go to: https://lacountylibrary.org/holiday-recipes. Photo courtesy Lawndale Library.
Travel from front page
of “les Immortels” (and yes, that’s the official
designation) approves it for inclusion in la
Dictionnaire de l’Académie française. And not
only are those words—that language—enshrined
in the French Constitution, but every citizen is
given not the duty, but the right (!), to speak
and use them in their everyday affairs.
Why does this matter? Because it matters
to the French you are visiting. In spite of a
flood of complaints about the Académie and
its snail’s pace in taking up new usages, no
one in the mainstream is suggesting that it
be abandoned. And yes, there are a gazillion
revolts and regional variations, but the language
of the Académie, the government, and the
mass media—what you might call Parisian
French—still reigns supreme.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in café
society. People who care about their words
tend to care about their looks, their habits,
and their conversation. So in a Parisian café,
you might overhear elegant bickering over
the latest Paris Saint-Germain soccer match
or well-mannered critiques of the latest St.
Honoré fashions—but you might also hear a
Elegance and beer—who knew?
heated debate on the human condition or the
origin of the universe. To outsiders, in particular
Americans, this all reeks (as maybe it should)
of elitism and snobbery, but it also represents
people taking their lives seriously. And the
French, and in particular the Parisians, take
everything about life very seriously.
Which makes it odd that, for most travelers,
languages rarely make the pre-travel prep list.
After decades of wandering around countries
like Hungary, Turkey, Morocco, and India, we
maintain a subscription at Rosetta Stone, but
we’re just as likely to open it to brush up on our
French. There are several similar online apps—
Duolingo comes to mind—that can at least get
the traveler oriented. Will anyone have a clue
what you’re trying to say? Probably not, but
they’ll still respect you for trying. And in any culture,
there’s nothing like provoking a little gentle
humor at your own expense to break the ice.
Several years ago, I was waiting outside a
chocolate shop in downtown Paris, when a
normally polite and elegant candy-buying Asian
friend stormed out, empty-handed and furious.
“She refused to serve me!’
“She refused?”
“She didn’t exactly refuse. But I was the
only one in there, and she ignored me!”
“Did you ask her first if she spoke English?
As in ‘Bonjour. Parlez-vous Anglais?’”
“Why would I do that? Everybody speaks
English here!”
And therein lay the issue. I took my friend’s
euros and walked inside to a perfectly lovely
reception from a perfectly lovely woman who
spoke much better English than my French.
And probably fluent German and Italian, and
maybe even a little Russian too. But I didn’t
make the mistake of insulting her language.
And what a language French is—musical
in its rhythms, soft in its intimacy, subtle in
its worship of beauty, clever in its delight in
the absurd, profound in its search for eternal
truths. “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.” Or to quote
Isadora Duncan’s very last words, “Adieu, mes
amis. Je vais à la gloire!”
No wonder the French love it so much.
Next up: 23 Travel Movies, One Series,
and Counting.
Ben & Glinda Shipley, published writers
and photographers, share their expertise and
experience of their many world travels. If you
have any questions or interest in a particular
subject, please email them at web@heraldpublications.
com. •
Where better to prepare for class?
That way? No! Both ways!
Impromptu concert on Place des Vosges. Café society in winter.