Spyke

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For both native and non-native English speakers: what word or phrase do you find especially difficult to pronounce?

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“Prolly” is how I pronounce it in speech, especially in the middle of a sentence.

I feel like one of the hardest things to master for non-native speakers, especially those who speak Romance languages, is the pronunciation of consonants that occur in the middle of phrases. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and depends on the speaker, but those said middle consonants are often very understated, especially in fast speech. I can always tell a Spanish or French native speaker because they would pronounce it: pro-Ba-BLEE, with the clear, distinct, staccato-like intonation of their mother tongues.

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Busted.

Only in Quebec would a cashier use 'tu' with a customer so freely... It's actually refreshing compared to the formality of everyday interactions in European francophone countries!

privacy

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Do I need to be a resident of the EU to get their data protection or can I just be a citizen?

Mildly on topic: I recently moved to France from Canada, I'm not an EU citizen, and google isn't really sure if I'm on vacation or if I've moved permanently.

Every single website now asks me about cookie settings. Most have a reject all button, but occasionally I have to manually uncheck some sliders to protect my data. Time well spent.

My parents back in Canada always think it's some voodoo magic when Facebook shows them ads about stuff they've recently been 'talking about (AKA searching on Google.) Duhhh. Thanks EU!

memes

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why

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In French, it's 'le pénis,' but nobody says that. 'Dick,' is feminine (la bite.)

Also, 'vagina' is masculine, but 'pussy' is feminine, because if you were to say 'le chat' it would mean a cat, but by feminising the word, it becomes 'la chatte,' meaning pussy.

As someone who grew up Anglophone, I actually find gendered languages much more precise. On the other hand, in order to make yourself understood one must have a rich vocabulary, because the definitions of words are often more narrow than in English.

And don't even get me started on phrasal verbs... English is messy.

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Parkable cities

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I live in France, about 30 minutes from a major city. There is transit, but it's not good, and has very few stops near where I live. Grocery shopping has to be done by car or bike as there aren't any shops in the village. European cities are extremely well served by transit, but outside the metropolitan areas, cars are still king.

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Rule

The grass is always greener and all that. I spent the first 15 years of my adult life destroying my body in the trades. Sure the money was good, but the hours sucked and you're still dealing with idiots all the time. Maybe Tracie in accounting doesn't know to not click on every link she receives in her email, but at least she can write a coherent sentence and refrain from smoking crack in the porta-potties...

And don't even get me started on service work. People who can't use computers have nothing on people who can't change a light bulb or plunge a toilet.

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Least annoying vegan

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Can confirm, she was featured in a program about Swiss naturalisation that I watched the other day. There were plenty of other candidates who were trying to integrate that were much less annoying than her, yet they still were having difficulty. It doesn't surprise me one bit that they denied her.