Re:Counting in the wrong language
by YeGoblynQueenne on Saturday November 23, 2019 @06:50AM
(#21613663)
Thanks. At least I know I didn't imagine it.
I make a disservice to Pascale, the first lady who taught me French, and who was, herself French, by saying it was a Belgian woman who taught me French. The Belgian lady, Catherine, taught me _most_ of my French but I first started speaking French with Pascale.
Which is to say, it's possible I learned "octante" from Pascale, although she was far from old enough to have learned it in the early 20th century.
So I'm guessing "octante" is still used in some French-speaking places, although not that widely.
And I'll probably sound rather quaint if I use it myself :)
[For the record, I'm Greek but I learned French very early on because my dad had cousins in the Greek diplomatic corps and he wanted me to get a job there and he thought French is the language of diplomacy. I was not interested in that, of course. But at least, thanks to my dad's silly ambitions, I grew up practically billingual.]
I make a disservice to Pascale, the first lady who taught me French, and who was, herself French, by saying it was a Belgian woman who taught me French. The Belgian lady, Catherine, taught me _most_ of my French but I first started speaking French with Pascale.
Which is to say, it's possible I learned "octante" from Pascale, although she was far from old enough to have learned it in the early 20th century.
So I'm guessing "octante" is still used in some French-speaking places, although not that widely.
And I'll probably sound rather quaint if I use it myself :)
[For the record, I'm Greek but I learned French very early on because my dad had cousins in the Greek diplomatic corps and he wanted me to get a job there and he thought French is the language of diplomacy. I was not interested in that, of course. But at least, thanks to my dad's silly ambitions, I grew up practically billingual.]