Le Passé Simple Sucks Ass

We learned a crazy new verb tense in our French class today: the passé simple. It's madness. There's this whole other verb tense which is used today basically only for literature. It describes the past tense, but in spoken French--and indeed in nearly all magazine and journal articles--a different verb tense (passé composé) is used to describe events in the past. If you want to be able to read the great works of Victor Hugo and Molière, however, you had best learn the passé simple. While this does not greatly appeal to me, I am nonetheless obliged to have at least a basic familiarity with the rules in order to pass my Level 4 French test at the end of the June....

Kidney-Related Link of the Day: You may have already heard about this on the news, but I was incensed to find out today that a Dutch company is planning on making a reality-based T.V. series in which viewers vote as to which of 3 contestants in need of a kidney will receive a transplant from a woman dying of cancer. This is wrong on so many different levels.

Back to the contest: The topic of the day is men's swimwear. Although my wife claims that French women honestly prefer the Speedo to the more baggy men's swimsuit worn in the U.S., there is nothing that will ever convince me to don what I consider to be one of the most cheesy and harrowing fashion statements in history. Just one look at David Hasslehoff's crotch and I think you'll agree with me: the U.S. takes a lead over the French, 7.5 to 6.5.

French for the Day: Remember that game "telephone" you used to play as a kid, where one person whispers something in the ear of the person next to them and you keep on going down the line until the last person has to say out-loud the phrase, which has probably evolved into something totally different? Anyways, the French have it too but they call it "téléphone arabe". I have no idea why the Arabs are involved.

Fren