Monday, March 10, 2014

la mer et la femme

One of the many challenging things about studying a Romance language as a native English speaker is learning (and rationalizing) which nouns are female and which are male. Though the United States has a lot of work to do when it comes to gender equality, most places and things are expressed as gender neutral (German, anyone?); except for Mother Nature, and 99.9% of all ships/boats.
Leslie and I arrived to a windy and wet Biarritz last week. The ocean was incredible from a distance. We watched in amazement as it violently thrashed about, and we weren't the only ones. Residents gathered, too. The scene reminded of my least favorite descriptor of women: crazy. We appropriate "crazy" when describing disagreeable, emotional, and otherwise 'unstable' ladies far too often. It's neither nice nor accurate. With all the word's negative connotations, it's also unnecessarily offensive. I wish that'd just wash away.
La mer was crazy though. And Leslie and I temporarily ducked into un café to wait out the rain in the luxurious seaside town. We also took refuge in a spectacular resto of basque moderne cuisine before visiting other Pays Basque destinations in better weather.
I look forward to re-living that meal super soon! Until then, some further reading inspired by International Women's Day...

4 comments:

  1. So beautiful! The "crazy" weather totally reminds me of my home in Atlantic Canada. How exciting. I am also a wee bit of Basque, so looking forward to hearing about the rest of your adventures.

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    1. Oh, it was! Looking forward to sharing them avec toi ! :)

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  2. The gender differences are hard for me too! I definitely make mistakes all the time!
    http://liveitinerantly.com/

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    1. It's always funny to try to explain such mistakes to a native speaker :) glad I'm not alone. xo

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