here's a little incident that happened to me today.
Waiting at the pharmacy, we witnessed the gentleman just in front of us, apparently not a French speaker, hold out his iPhone to the pharmacist with a poorly pronounced "s'il vous plait?" She smiled, shrugged and told him "Sorry, we don't have that here, try the Nicolas (wine store) next door." When I asked her what it was all about, she responded "He asked for a Cremant d'Alsace, but I don't know anything about wine!"
Too funny, Emery. Was this out by your farm, or at your pied-à-terre? Equally incomprehensible either way...
Mark Lipton
One interesting thing about that anecdote is that, despite a professed ignorance of wine, the woman behind the counter did know what a Crémant d'Alsace was. Try it in the UK, and the assistant would scurry to the qualified pharmacist, who would be puzzled and probably assume it was some weird remedy that they don't stock.
Heh, in Paris, in the heart of Passy! I don't think I'll ever figure this one out...
Wait, one time when I had a stomach bug someone talked me into the "cure d'Alsacienne" which consists (apparently) of drinking an entire bottle of Riesling solo early in the morning. In my defense, he provided the bottle... Unfortunately it didn't work. But maybe this guy was after a variation of "la cure". :)
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