In my neck of the woods we call them Garbage cans.

AS far as counting it doesnt matter what the language...only have 20 fingers and toes.

I work with some great people, and every morning they greet me with "Bonjour, madamoiselle!" and Frenchify words or talk like Pepe Le Pew, so we're always bastardising one language or another--and having fun while we're at it. (What's the point in coming to work, you know, unless... )

I also ate breakfast regularly at a cafe in a small alley in the city that's lined with cafes, and I'd walk past these guys every day (who I only knew by face and vice versa--never spoken) and they'd always call out "Bonjour, madamoiselle"--and they're Italian Of course, I think with them it was because I just about always carry my Bonjour Paris messenger bag with me

Anna, I count in French, also. It's funny when languages mix. I used to say "thanks" in Russian, too. Whereas most people know "Merci," I'd get a few funny looks whenever I said "Spasiba".

And Al, whenever I come back from the US, I'm always saying "gas" ilo "petrol" or "trash can" ilo "rubbish bin", etc.

Cheers,
Gabrielle

O gud, fillis, I'm knot the only won!

I'm not yet thinking very complicated thoughts in French, but I am more and thinking the french word automatically when I look at things. I was listening to CDs on my drive to and from work each day, but since the CD player went out, I now give myself a conversation assignment each morning.

I do tend to think "bonjour" and "merci" even here in the U.S. now . . . I guess it's a good thing I'm not too close to my work colleages, and don't have to fight the urge to kiss them each morning! My family has just accepted these greetings as normal at this point.

I do wonder if my counting habits will ever change . . . I haven't counted in English in years, for some reason, Russian just got stuck in my head as my counting language, I don't even think about it. So, while I know numbers and *can* count in French, I wonder if Russian will ever be replaced.

I know when I go from France to London that I'm apt to say "Pardon" if I should bump into someone. By the same token, when I return from London to NY I'd be prone to say "Sorry" instead of "Excuse me ". Don't know what that proves.

I definitely misspell words in English now, although I was never a great speller anyway. My speech has also changed and at times I will say something in English that you would really say in French. I was recently talking about the elections and said that someone was going to present themselves for office and my friend started laughing and said that I was starting to speak English with French words. I'm sure that I do it all the time.

Anna, I don't do what you are asking about, but I do what Gabrielle mentions a lot! When I left Paris last time, and got onto the plane to come back to America, it was the most difficult thing for me not to say, "merci" and "sil vous plait", etc. Today, I was at a Mexican restaurant, here in America, and I said "merci" to the waiter.

I am finding that I am using a lot of French in my thoughts now too. I do practice my French, always, while driving. I have those c.d.'s always going

No, I haven't had your first example happen, Anna, though definitely the second. I was writing a Word document the other day and I mean to write "She was a graphic artist" then looked at it when the red squiggly lines showed up to indicate incorrect spelling and saw I'd written "She was a artiste graphique."

I find very often now that I go to say "Merci" to a waiter at a café, and that I often dream in French.

Cheers,
Gabrielle

when you study French, or another language?

I'm just curious if anyone has had an experience similar to mine. Since intensifying my French study the last few months, I've found my spelling for English has become much more phonetic. I don't mean I can no longer spell English at all . . . if I'm asked for a spelling, I can still manage just about anything. But, when writing (by hand or computer) or "talking" in chat, I'm often horrified to look and see (to use two examples I've corrected as I'm typing this) an "f" for "ph" or an "r" for "wr". This has never been a problem in the past, so I'm guessing (hoping?) the difference is the study of a language without some of these strange rules.

Perhaps some of it is age . . . I don't recall doing this many years ago when I was studying Russian and German, although I did often just slip into the cyrillic alphabet when writing English or German, or would look at notes from other classes to see the odd Russian or German word thrown into the mix.

Sorry if this doesn't really fit, it's something I've been curious about, and thought with the large group of members here who are multilingual, I might get some good responses.