September 19, 2003
Allow me to vent, please. Today's topics include our ill-mannered neighbors, Le Divorce, Francophonic marketing, and full body sneezing.
My Neighbors
I think we may have the most obnoxious neighbors in all of St. Elmo living across the street. The most annoying thing about them is actually their frequent visitors, who, instead of walking up the front steps and ringing the doorbell, sit in their car and honk the horn repeatedly until someone comes out. Not just one tap on the horn, either. They'll honk the horn five times, wait maybe 20 seconds, and then start honking again. Rinse. Repeat. This happens every single day, without fail, and usually more than once each day. It has happenned at 8am on Saturday mornings and 11pm on weeknights. How in any universe can this be considered reasonable social behavior? Has it not occured to them that if the people they're honking at can hear it inside, so can everyone else on the street, and we might not appreciate it?
Le Divorce
Last week Genia and I went to catch a chick flick matinee, and one of the other films playing that day was Le Divorce. I was unfortunate enough to have heard all manner of mispronunciations of the title. The most common one was for people to say [Lay] Divorce. That was annoying, but then I heard someone call it [La] Divorce. Quoi? The worst, however, was when a theatre employee called it [Lay Dee-vorce-ay]. I was stunned. Surely if you work at the theatre where a film is being shown, you've been exposed to the proper way to say the title. Ugh.
Francophonic Marketing
Another related pet peeve I have is the use of French articles or faux-French to try and make something ordinary sound fancy. "Le Nails" is a shop in St. Elmo and an offender of this nature. On Frazier Avenue there is a salon called, if I remember correctly, The Nu Cheveux. "Nu" is a French word, but it means "naked" not "new" and I doubt that's what they intended. Good grief.
Full Body Sneezing
Yesterday my sinuses declared war on me. They battled me from the time I woke up until the moment I fell asleep. They were relentless. My 12-hour antihistamine/decongestant Alavert was no match for the sheer volume of waste produced by my sinuses, and my body was no match for the brute force exerted upon its release. My arms hurt, my chest hurt, my legs hurt, and my abs (hidden as they may be) hurt each time I sneezed. I felt completely exhausted last night by 9:00. Of course, that didn't stop my from going to Barnes & Noble -- I felt like I deserved a treat for my suffering.
we have noticed the car-horn phenomenon in st. elmo as well. perhaps it is the norm in african-american culture? we've noticed it first when our next door neighbor at our old house had many visitors. they happened to be drug dealers, so we wondered if that had anything to do with it.
but then we were selling a car, and people would pull up and just honk. after a while, I'd look outside, realizing they were beckoning me outside to discuss the car. rather uncouth. oh well.
Posted by: BobW at September 19, 2003 01:16 PMOur neighbors do the same thing!!! I feel like coming out on the porch and yelling "KNOCK!" Any time day or night they seem to find this appropriate!
I'm totally with you on the French thing. What gets me is Aahhhhmelie...people swallow the A like they're at the dentist.
Posted by: Jeannette at September 19, 2003 09:30 PMjohn, it has been to long since Mrs. Richarson's or Dr. Coss' french class...and now you have my curiosity up....how do you properly pronounce "Le Divorce"?
Posted by: Melanie at September 19, 2003 11:27 PMAt 3am this morning, I woke up to sneeze. At 8am I yet again woke up, to sneeze. By the time I dragged my stuffed head/aching body out of bed I was hoping it was naptime. Except, when I lay down, I no longer can breathe. The small amount of air I am getting while standing up/walking around is enough to keep me functional, so I fought the urge to get back into bed. In a flash of brilliance I remembered I had picked up my allergy meds yesterday at Walgreens (along with a Sponge Bob Square Pants bubble blower for my sister.) So I go into the kitchen (carrying a roll of toilet paper, which I also took on my walk with the dog..we're out of kleenex)and open the bag, delighted at the thought of breathing normally and even being able to sleep! I reach my hand in and, wait, that's not a medicine bottle, it's flat. Out of the bag it comes, in all it's glory. The lady at the pharmacy who remembered my name and my birthdate, which I thought was rather significant, had filled both of my prescriptions incorrectly. My LoDrane (allergy meds)she replaced with birth control pills (what the?)and my Wellbutrin dosage was incorrectly filled by 100 mg per day! Now, if you are a pharmacy technician and a regular customer comes up to the counter around the same day she comes every month for her allergy/crazy pills, while sniffling and speaking like an elephant, what in God's green earth would make you think, "oh, Mrs. Hawbaker, she must be here for her birth control pills". Yes. That's it. The ones that I haven't had filled in 6 months. Almost like she's telepathic! For the love of all things holy, how can you confuse Microgestin with LoDrane?!?!?! Unbelievable. I mean, the movie theater employee, the pharmacy tech.. the neighbors that honk... maybe today's rant should've been about "service proffessionals'" inpetitude.
Posted by: April at September 20, 2003 02:47 PMMelanie, Melanie. Mrs. Richardson would be so disappointed. "Le" is the masculine singular article -- I can't figure out how to write its pronounciation, though. "Divorce" sounds very simple to how we say it in English, except that the second syllable is emphasized over the first syllable.
Jeanette, I hear you on "Amelie" though I admit I'm not entirely confident in my pronounciation of that name. I definitely wouldn't drag out the "a" though. Yikes! After our baby is born, the first time those people wake her up honking their horn, I will be out on the porch yelling at them. Or maybe I'll just walk right up to their car with the screaming baby in my arms. That'll teach 'em!
Bob, I hope our neighbors aren't selling drugs. That's a scary thought -- hopefully they're just rude. :)
Posted by: John at September 21, 2003 01:24 PMLe in "le divorce' is kind of a short "oo" sound sort of like in crook. sort of....
Posted by: Jeannette at September 22, 2003 12:37 PMI read your post about the neighbors honking the horn. My neighbors ride honk's her horn every morning 3 to 6 times. I have asked them if they have to honk the horn. My other neighbor has asked them too. Last week I called the cops on them and a police officer went over and talked to her husband. He got pissed at me. He told his wife but the very next morning the neighbors ride was honking the horn. I went down to the Police Station and told them they were ignorning the advice. They are still honking the horn. Should I set my clock and start honking my horn at 2am, I am at my wits end.
Posted by: Jackie Hobbs at December 15, 2004 09:41 AM