Sunflowers–and come see the exotic pink bird in our garden… at the next wine tasting here at Mas des Brun, August 6th. We hope to see you! Contact jm.espinasse@gmail.com for details.
le flamant rose (flamahn rowz)
: pink flamingo
Audio File: listen to today's word and example sentence, read by Jean-Marc: Download MP3 or Wave file
Flamant Rose. En Camargues, les flamants roses sont des espèces protegées. Pink Flamingo. In the Camargue, pink flamingos are a protected species..
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE… by Kristin Espinasse
"Reverse Culture Shock"
After missing the London-Nice connection, Jackie’s bag made it all the way home from Denver! My 16-year-old was sleeping off her long voyage when Chronoposte arrived with the beat-up valise, but when Jackie awoke her first instinct was to ask for that bag.
“It’s in the garage, Sweety. Have Max carry it up for you.” I left my daughter to root through her suitcase (sur place, for there was apparently no time to wait for her brother!). Moments later I heard a knock on my bedroom door.
“Mom, there’s a surprise for you in the garden….” Jackie said, wearing that crooked smile her father wears when he’s up to something.
I couldn’t help but wonder what my husband (assuming he was in on this) had installed, erected, or otherwise “fashioned” in the backyard. Would it be pleasing to the eye? Would it involve a thick band of silver tape as so many of his solution-inventions do?
Climbing the stone steps beside the garage I followed the girl in cutoffs, my heart swelling as her ponytail swept from side to side. How Jackie had changed in four weeks, after spending time with my sister and family in Colorado and Idaho!
“Mom. I need to take the TOEFL test. I want to go to the University of Colorado, in Boulder!” she announced, almost as soon as her plane landed….
TOEFL? Boulder? Go away from home? But that was a few years away! For now we were here together, here in a garden in the south of France–here on a treasure hunt! My eyes scanned the verger, its floor covered with paille. But nothing looked out of the ordinary … there was the comfrey and the row of chives I’d recently planted, the little plants leaning out of their toilet-paper roll jackets (which were supposed to eventually compost, according to the experts).
With an anxious motioning from my daughter, I moved on to Sector Two, where four raised beds made of local stone held a chaotic forest of herbs and vegetables. “Say ‘hot’ or ‘cold’, and help me find it!” I begged, when suddenly a bright something to my right began drenching my peripheral vision, in pink!
Turning, my eyes met a plastic pink flamingo.
"It’s from Heidi," Jackie pointed out.
Well, that was odd, I thought, staring at the unnatural object. Sort of kitch! Normally my sister has better taste than that.
It would be necessary to hide the thing. But would I remember to pull it out when my sister came to visit? In the words of Walter Scott, “Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” No! The whole scenario was too complicated. I’d have to fess up, and let my sister know that this one was a bomb. Not at all my style.
“Heidi said you would understand,” Jackie smiled, eager to know my thoughts.
Understand? Now it was I rooting through the pockets of my mind’s valise, trying to make associations. Pink flamingo… understand… pink flamingo? Little beads of sweat formed over my brow as I came close to failing The Recognition Test.
Was it something to do with our childhood, Heidi's and mine? My mind raced back to the Arizona desert, where coyotes and quail, and rattlesnakes roamed. Were there pink flamingos, too?
“Mom!” Jackie’s impatience woke me from my reverie. “Heidi said it’s something you (you Americans) do. You put these in people’s gardens … to surprise your friends!
My mind began to perk up and I was back on the streets of Phoenix, rolls of toilet paper in hand, laughing with a gaggle of girls as we played a prank on a friend. Once the cactus and the citrus trees and the mesquites in the front yard were covered … we’d leap out of the yard and run like bandits.
I vaguely remembered an occasional pink flamingo in those desert gardens, but it never registered then (at 12-years-old). Except in retrospect. Yes, it was another kind of prank! Not the kind kids were good at (owing to the expense of the plastic birds.). Toilet paper could easily be stolen from the bathroom!
It was surreal, standing there in my garden, listening to my French daughter teach me a lesson in American Pop Culture. Surreal may well be the definition of reverse culture shock: when something is so intimately familiar to you that you can’t recognize it at all.
"You mean out of all the stuff you bought in America, you managed to cram a giant flamant rose in your suitcase?"
"Aunt Heidi helped me," Jackie shrugged her shoulders and that crooked smile was back.
As we gazed at the kitchy pink bird, I threw my arm around my daughter and broke out into what the French call a fou rire—a serious case of the giggles. That sister of mine. She’s priceless. And so is this cheap pink flamingo!
Comments
Would you keep the pink flamingo–and “own it” when your French compatriots come to visit, questioning your sense of style? Or would you plant it in your neighbor’s garden, and so introduce the prank to French culture–which seems to have its own version: garden gnomes! Click here to comment.
Not everybody is thrilled with this new arangement. Some are getting their feathers ruffled over it! A pink imposter?
Breizh is not happy with the new setup either, and is remembering a sarcastic French expression: Tout nouveau tout beau (A new broom sweeps clean). Harrumph! Time to chew on an ear of corn, if ever it will grow.
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For my 60th birthday, a friend set 60 plastic flamingos in my front yard on the day we were having the birthday party.
For my 60th birthday, a friend set 60 plastic flamingos in my front yard on the day we were having the birthday party.
“It’s” is a contraction of “It is” with the apostrophe taking the place of the “i.”
Like “isn’t” is a contraction of “is not,” with the apostrophe taking the place of the “o.”
“Its” is actually the possessive form, meaning “belonging to it.” For example, “The pink flamingo holds up its leg while resting.”
I know it is confusing, when we use the apostrophe to show the possessive in many instances: “Kristin’s dogs are Blaise and Smokey,” but you can’t go wrong if you always test “it’s” by reading it as “it is.”
In today’s story, Kristin is using the phrase correctly: “It’s from Heidi” reads “It is from Heidi.”
I always feel sad when people who have been taught these grammar lessons improperly insist on correcting others. Where in the world did their teachers learn their English?
My other pet peeve (taught incorrectly too) is when people say “for him and I” and think they are being correct because it sounds awkward. No! It is incorrect! You say ” He and I bought the pink flamingo” (because “I bought the pink flamingo” and “He bought the pink flamingo.”)
However, one says, “He bought it for him” and “He bought it for me,” because the words are the object of the word “for.”
The only way to really understand this stuff is to study Latin or diagram sentences, but please let’s (let us) not confuse dear Kristin when she is getting it right!
Re: the pink flamingo – be happy that Jackie is trying to learn some of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the States. I agree with the suggestion of making the flamingo her own little area to preside over, perhaps with a koi pond – but off to the side, just for fun.
“It’s” is a contraction of “It is” with the apostrophe taking the place of the “i.”
Like “isn’t” is a contraction of “is not,” with the apostrophe taking the place of the “o.”
“Its” is actually the possessive form, meaning “belonging to it.” For example, “The pink flamingo holds up its leg while resting.”
I know it is confusing, when we use the apostrophe to show the possessive in many instances: “Kristin’s dogs are Blaise and Smokey,” but you can’t go wrong if you always test “it’s” by reading it as “it is.”
In today’s story, Kristin is using the phrase correctly: “It’s from Heidi” reads “It is from Heidi.”
I always feel sad when people who have been taught these grammar lessons improperly insist on correcting others. Where in the world did their teachers learn their English?
My other pet peeve (taught incorrectly too) is when people say “for him and I” and think they are being correct because it sounds awkward. No! It is incorrect! You say ” He and I bought the pink flamingo” (because “I bought the pink flamingo” and “He bought the pink flamingo.”)
However, one says, “He bought it for him” and “He bought it for me,” because the words are the object of the word “for.”
The only way to really understand this stuff is to study Latin or diagram sentences, but please let’s (let us) not confuse dear Kristin when she is getting it right!
Re: the pink flamingo – be happy that Jackie is trying to learn some of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the States. I agree with the suggestion of making the flamingo her own little area to preside over, perhaps with a koi pond – but off to the side, just for fun.
Such fun, the whole rigmarole to do with pink plastic flamingoes! The previous owners of my ‘new’ home were what we call Canadian Snowbirds of advanced age, so I was not too astonished to find two properly outrageous pink plastic leggy fowls in the back corner of the garden. They stayed there all winter, and I grew some affection for them. They are still there, only now the burgeoning hosta plants have covered them up. Yes, they are something I point out to visitors as a secret piece de resistance of this abode! You have only to name yours, Kristi, to introduce it to all comers as a stowaway in Jackie’s luggage on her journey home! After all, there is a worldwide community of these preposterous pink things with their unique cachet! Love it.
Such fun, the whole rigmarole to do with pink plastic flamingoes! The previous owners of my ‘new’ home were what we call Canadian Snowbirds of advanced age, so I was not too astonished to find two properly outrageous pink plastic leggy fowls in the back corner of the garden. They stayed there all winter, and I grew some affection for them. They are still there, only now the burgeoning hosta plants have covered them up. Yes, they are something I point out to visitors as a secret piece de resistance of this abode! You have only to name yours, Kristi, to introduce it to all comers as a stowaway in Jackie’s luggage on her journey home! After all, there is a worldwide community of these preposterous pink things with their unique cachet! Love it.
Forgot to explain what a Canadian Snowbird is, in case the term is new to you: a citizen of this wintry nation who heads to Florida USA for the cold months, returning north only once springtime is beginning!
Forgot to explain what a Canadian Snowbird is, in case the term is new to you: a citizen of this wintry nation who heads to Florida USA for the cold months, returning north only once springtime is beginning!
I was delighted to see your flamingo — I have one just like it as well as several others, large and small (faded from the sun or bright pink still). DH just requires they remain in the back yard where friends gather and don’t invade the front yard where decorum (hah) still reigns.
Judy L.
I was delighted to see your flamingo — I have one just like it as well as several others, large and small (faded from the sun or bright pink still). DH just requires they remain in the back yard where friends gather and don’t invade the front yard where decorum (hah) still reigns.
Judy L.
This post really brought out the opinionated ones! I feel right at home with them. As I get older, I welcome any chance to take myself and life less seriously. I have plastic toys I have found on the beach in my bathroom, including a purple and green Incredible Hulk. They are nestled in among “tasteful” seashells.
In the same vein, taking things less seriously means that you can also thoroughly embrace the gift, enjoy it, and give it away in a week or a year. You can do what you like, acknowledge the fun sentiment, but not over-think it!
This post really brought out the opinionated ones! I feel right at home with them. As I get older, I welcome any chance to take myself and life less seriously. I have plastic toys I have found on the beach in my bathroom, including a purple and green Incredible Hulk. They are nestled in among “tasteful” seashells.
In the same vein, taking things less seriously means that you can also thoroughly embrace the gift, enjoy it, and give it away in a week or a year. You can do what you like, acknowledge the fun sentiment, but not over-think it!
Kristi, keep the Flamingo. You will smile every time you see it and remember Jackie and your sister planning a little joke on you. And the fun they had doing it.
And don’t worry about what visitors think! It is much more tasteful than the swans which people make out of old tyres here in Australia.
The plants will grow up around it and you won’t even see it after a while. Who knows?
Ne soit pas snob, chérie! 🙂
Best wishes!
Christine,
Brisbane, Australia
Kristi, keep the Flamingo. You will smile every time you see it and remember Jackie and your sister planning a little joke on you. And the fun they had doing it.
And don’t worry about what visitors think! It is much more tasteful than the swans which people make out of old tyres here in Australia.
The plants will grow up around it and you won’t even see it after a while. Who knows?
Ne soit pas snob, chérie! 🙂
Best wishes!
Christine,
Brisbane, Australia
Perhaps it could remain standing until the Mistral comes along to blow it into a neighbor’s property???
Perhaps it could remain standing until the Mistral comes along to blow it into a neighbor’s property???
Now, there’s visual, Mary! haha
Yes, VERY small planet, Cyndie from Columbia, MD!
Now, there’s visual, Mary! haha
Yes, VERY small planet, Cyndie from Columbia, MD!
So many opinions about the flamingo! Who knew one little plastic bird would cause such a brouhaha! Perhaps Kristi’s sister?
I am not fond either of plastic or kitsch, but I agree with many here – don’t over think this, have fun, please don’t paint it (that would just be forcing yourself to attempt to adapt it, somehow, to your surroundings rather than letting it go if that is what you truly desire). My grandparents had two of the life-sized cement versions in their front garden where they retired in FL; I loved those birds 🙂
Go with your heart. No hurry to decide today.
A little serendipitous note: I have quite been contemplating relocating to Boulder, CO … a place I considered moving to 35 years ago (and lived a few other places since). What a nice surprise to discover all the Boulder comments in addition to your story.
So many opinions about the flamingo! Who knew one little plastic bird would cause such a brouhaha! Perhaps Kristi’s sister?
I am not fond either of plastic or kitsch, but I agree with many here – don’t over think this, have fun, please don’t paint it (that would just be forcing yourself to attempt to adapt it, somehow, to your surroundings rather than letting it go if that is what you truly desire). My grandparents had two of the life-sized cement versions in their front garden where they retired in FL; I loved those birds 🙂
Go with your heart. No hurry to decide today.
A little serendipitous note: I have quite been contemplating relocating to Boulder, CO … a place I considered moving to 35 years ago (and lived a few other places since). What a nice surprise to discover all the Boulder comments in addition to your story.
I love the “pink” flamingo! It looks great in your yard. Embrace the sense of fun it represents. Please don’t cover up the pink color — it is lovely.
I’m glad Jackie is home & safe — I love her future plans!
Is there anyway to just enjoy these posts without the lectures on grammar? Sorry, but that’s not the reason I love the posts & the photos. Lighten up.
I love the “pink” flamingo! It looks great in your yard. Embrace the sense of fun it represents. Please don’t cover up the pink color — it is lovely.
I’m glad Jackie is home & safe — I love her future plans!
Is there anyway to just enjoy these posts without the lectures on grammar? Sorry, but that’s not the reason I love the posts & the photos. Lighten up.
Keep it! It’s kitch, but cool kitch in its own way.
Keep it! It’s kitch, but cool kitch in its own way.
Madre dios! Here in Florida they are the ultimate in tacky lawn decorations but you probably ought to keep it somewhere, hopefully covert, since Jackie went to all that trouble to bring it and it will remind you of your precious soeur. That is some kind of hot pink!
Madre dios! Here in Florida they are the ultimate in tacky lawn decorations but you probably ought to keep it somewhere, hopefully covert, since Jackie went to all that trouble to bring it and it will remind you of your precious soeur. That is some kind of hot pink!
Thank you for the delightful feedback. Bien sur je le garde. Of course I will keep it…her, that is. Next to find a name! How about Lola?
Re its and apostrophe its, I did learn the difference years ago, thanks to readers (including Bill, who I told you about). These days when I leave out the apostrophe–or incorrectly include it–it is a typo, one that spell check cannot catch.
All corrections are welcome, in French or in English, especially when they come with helpful examples 🙂
Happy weekend to all and thank you so much for your warmhearted notes and enthusiasm for these sometimes mundane topics.
Thank you for the delightful feedback. Bien sur je le garde. Of course I will keep it…her, that is. Next to find a name! How about Lola?
Re its and apostrophe its, I did learn the difference years ago, thanks to readers (including Bill, who I told you about). These days when I leave out the apostrophe–or incorrectly include it–it is a typo, one that spell check cannot catch.
All corrections are welcome, in French or in English, especially when they come with helpful examples 🙂
Happy weekend to all and thank you so much for your warmhearted notes and enthusiasm for these sometimes mundane topics.
Kitsch the pink flamingo may be in North America, for they’re here in Canada too, but quite at home it looks in your French garden. Think of it, no one else will have one… so it will be “unique” in both the English and French senses of the word. Definitely, keep it!
Kitsch the pink flamingo may be in North America, for they’re here in Canada too, but quite at home it looks in your French garden. Think of it, no one else will have one… so it will be “unique” in both the English and French senses of the word. Definitely, keep it!
One year 15 years ago I woke up to a large flock of pink flamingos in the front yard. I had just had the good news of being cancer free. It was the good fortune of the neighborhood to set out these good harbingers whenever there was good news, birthdays, etc. and I was overjoyed to be assured that my personal good news was so appreciated by the whole neighborhood. It was a gift of love.
One year 15 years ago I woke up to a large flock of pink flamingos in the front yard. I had just had the good news of being cancer free. It was the good fortune of the neighborhood to set out these good harbingers whenever there was good news, birthdays, etc. and I was overjoyed to be assured that my personal good news was so appreciated by the whole neighborhood. It was a gift of love.
Of course you should keep it! I vote for a placement near some deep purplish blue Hortensia/Hydrangea. Oh, and about that typo/grammar dispute: you are so lucky to have all these armchair editors. I worked forever as a public relations counsel & remember that sometimes the brain requests one word & the fingers have their own kinetic memory of a similar word. Like more than once when writing a business proposal I found and corrected a phrase regarding our services in “pubic relations” …. Oops! Spell check would never have caught that one.
Of course you should keep it! I vote for a placement near some deep purplish blue Hortensia/Hydrangea. Oh, and about that typo/grammar dispute: you are so lucky to have all these armchair editors. I worked forever as a public relations counsel & remember that sometimes the brain requests one word & the fingers have their own kinetic memory of a similar word. Like more than once when writing a business proposal I found and corrected a phrase regarding our services in “pubic relations” …. Oops! Spell check would never have caught that one.
You should keep it, as someone else here said, a touch of whimsy is good for the soul. In Western Australia, we do the garden gnome thing. Our gnome, by name Gnoman, was last heard of in Tasmania (we received a postcard with his picture – on holiday apparently). One of his gnomish friends, name of Vic Tim, travelled the world sending back his holiday snaps. He made a brief appearance at a friend’s wedding before heading off again.
Some much silliness. Also good for the soul 🙂
H
You should keep it, as someone else here said, a touch of whimsy is good for the soul. In Western Australia, we do the garden gnome thing. Our gnome, by name Gnoman, was last heard of in Tasmania (we received a postcard with his picture – on holiday apparently). One of his gnomish friends, name of Vic Tim, travelled the world sending back his holiday snaps. He made a brief appearance at a friend’s wedding before heading off again.
Some much silliness. Also good for the soul 🙂
H
My tropical garden would not be complete without my pink flamingos! XXOO
My tropical garden would not be complete without my pink flamingos! XXOO
Kristin,
You are one very classy lady!
Kristin,
You are one very classy lady!
Keep it! Pink flamingos have become au courant, not that they are difficult to come be.
Keep it! Pink flamingos have become au courant, not that they are difficult to come be.
Ah, you must keep it. Far better to have an open heart that accepts a little whimsical poke from a sister so far way than to be considered someone with “good taste.”
Ah, you must keep it. Far better to have an open heart that accepts a little whimsical poke from a sister so far way than to be considered someone with “good taste.”
Our son plopped one of these in a small flower garden he made for Mother’s Day about 15 years ago. At first I thought it was tacky, but after a neighbor said, “Oh, he gave it to you, so you HAD to put it out, right?” we decided to keep Pinky standing proud and tall…and that’s where he stands today, a bit faded but still in charge.
Our son plopped one of these in a small flower garden he made for Mother’s Day about 15 years ago. At first I thought it was tacky, but after a neighbor said, “Oh, he gave it to you, so you HAD to put it out, right?” we decided to keep Pinky standing proud and tall…and that’s where he stands today, a bit faded but still in charge.
I agree with several comments : you are a classy lady, Kristin !
And since you did ask for corrections… So here is one :
… Bill, whoM I told you about. WHO is a subject, as: Bill who is my friend. but WHOM is the object, and even better would be : Bill, about whom I told you….. Whom here is the object of told you about, NOT the subject.
I do realize that very few people use WHOM these days, but it is the correct form.
As for the flamingo, I agree with the majority, keep it, it’s big enough that it does make a witty statement !
I agree with several comments : you are a classy lady, Kristin !
And since you did ask for corrections… So here is one :
… Bill, whoM I told you about. WHO is a subject, as: Bill who is my friend. but WHOM is the object, and even better would be : Bill, about whom I told you….. Whom here is the object of told you about, NOT the subject.
I do realize that very few people use WHOM these days, but it is the correct form.
As for the flamingo, I agree with the majority, keep it, it’s big enough that it does make a witty statement !
Thank you very much Nadine, and for the helpful example. Bill would have corrected the who/whom right away. Your note makes me appreciate some of the letters Bill and I exchanged … concerning who/whom . He would be rolling his eyes, to know I still have not passed the test 🙂 Off to fix the error….
Thank you very much Nadine, and for the helpful example. Bill would have corrected the who/whom right away. Your note makes me appreciate some of the letters Bill and I exchanged … concerning who/whom . He would be rolling his eyes, to know I still have not passed the test 🙂 Off to fix the error….