Is speaking French posh?

I've been in England now for nearly 5 years and had the time to see, hear or just witness some amazing and funny things, trust me on that, but I'm always amazed at how many people in England will tell you that they speak French. Or believe they speak French. Let me explain this please...

For most people in the UK, French means great wines, great fashion brands, tasty food (definitely) and a great place for an expensive week-end or a family house in the south; in one word, here on the other side of the English Channel, French means "POSH"
What I'm trying to say is that generally people believe that knowing how to say hello (Bonjour), thank you (merci) or "comment ca va aujourd'hui" (how are you today), being able to order a glass of wine in a pub in Paris or a piece of French cheese in Waitrose, means that they speak French.

Well let me tell you that I strongly doubt that first. I mean I didn't need to go in school to learn English and get a good job in 3 different English countries (England, USA, Canada). No, what I did was watch CNN or the BBC, listen to Tupac Shakur and read NBA magazines before I could pass my TOEFL in France with success. And yes my English isn't perfect and I still learn everyday but I would challenge anyone to learn French (and I mean French...) just by watching TV5 or Canal +, by listening Serge Gainsbourg or IAM and by reading French fashion magazines.

If you look at it deeper you'll realise that each time the last two French presidents (Chirac & Sarkozy) came here in UK or went in the United States, they both had interviews and local talkshows in English, but did you ever see or hear Georges W. Bush, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown having to listen and answer questions in French when they went to Paris on a shopping trip...... I don't think so

Let have another look at this with a transcript from a conversation I had with a "Posh" colleague here at IBM :

The Peace Blogger: Hi how are you today mate?
The "posh" IBM dude: No bad thanks to ask, but can I ask you something...
The Peace Blogger: Yes obviously, what's wrong
The "posh" IBM dude: Nothing just wanted to know if you're French because you sound French...Are you?
The Peace Blogger: Well I'm from Gabon/Cameroon, which mean that French is my first language, why
The "posh" IBM dude: Just funny because you know, I do speak French too and have a house over there... (I'm Posh dude)
The Peace Blogger: Really!
The "posh" IBM dude: Yes I swear.... Bonjour....Comment..va..bien "today"...
The Peace Blogger: Je vais bien, un peu fatigue mais ca va, et toi comment va la famille
The "posh" IBM dude: Euh...J'aime le...vin...je suis dans la...maison...a moi...
The Peace Blogger: Ouhaa pour l'instant je comprends rien du tout, ou habites tu en France?
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuuuh...tu as vois...le..derrière...hahahaha...j'aime...Paris beaucoup...
The Peace Blogger: Ok, bien essaye mais je continue a rien comprendre de quoi tu parles Lol...
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuuh...je...boire la...bière au...café...et acheter...baguette...hahaha...j'aime....baguette...
The Peace Blogger: Je suis impressionné par ton Français, excellent. Félicitations...
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuh merci...beaucoup mon ami...euuh a...demain....

Well as you can see, if this is what speaking French means for most folks here in UK, I deserve a PhD in English literacy....

No better place to work than IBM...

For the past 3 years I've been working for IBM UK (in England) and it's great.
I mean I'm not really working for IBM...Because as a contractor I do not benefit from any IBM employee privilege, yes I've got the IBM badge, the IBM laptop, a big desk and the freedom to work home when it's necessary, but that's it. No company car, no company mobile phone (don't care, got an 3G IPhone), no IBM pension scheme, no IBM free voucher for Marks & Spencer (hahahahaha) and specially no IBM salary (hard to take this one...), and when most of my friends think I'm wealthy because I've got an IBM badge, they should know that some of them make more then me as a skilled factory worker....Incredible no....

Anyway this was just an introduction to the topic of this post which is somewhere link to IBM or more specifically to my IBM workplace. Today on my way to the canteen, I went across the most unbelievable and funny department in the building : The IBM Well-being Services

According to the IBM internal website, "IBM has a rich history of respect for the health and well-being of its employees that dates back to the very beginning of the company", and it's probably true, but I can't stop to laugh about it....

I guess now I just have to give them a call everytime I feel sad or tired and should send them a list of all the issue which affect my daily well-being at my office (some of them below):

My chair hurts my back (sometime)
My desk is not big enough (just kidding)
My laptop is to slow
The food in the canteen is always the same and really expensive
The Air con. always works in winter and never in summer (not kidding)
Have to set-up my voicemail everyday (just awful)
Everybody around me smoke and drink (I don't, well...sometime...)
Summer in the UK it's raining time (not kidding)
The company bus is always late
When can I get an IBM salary please? (would help pay my bills...)

As you see life can be tough and pretty tense as an IBM contractor, but since I know that there's a Well-being services in the building and that their responsibility is to make my working day better, I just feel good, really good....

....Hooo nooo, just drop some coffee on my laptop...sorry guys...I need to call the Well-being services to calm me down a little bit.....

Hahahahahahaha

Have a good week-end and enjoy the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Beijing 2008 / 2 days to go...

Well like most people on hearth this week, I'm patiently waiting for the 2008 Beijing Olympic to start (Friday around 1:00pm) and lived to the expection to be the best Olympic Games ever.

Personally, I can wait to watch the US men basketball team playing their first game against China on Sunday (live on BBC) and witness their progress to the promise land: a Gold Medal.

And what about the Athletics and swimming events (where the GB team seem stronger than ever), the tennis tournament (Nadal & Federer all over again...), boxing (Cuba vs. USA vs. GB), football (Brazil), diving (can Tom Daley shock the World) and all the rest...

Every 4 years the Olympic Games link athletes from different countries and different religions, bring nations together on the same agenda or ideal and give the entire planet 3 weeks of peace and respect for each other : This is the Olympic spirit.

Then you know what, I will enjoy this 3 weeks, probably spend most of the night watching highlights of daily events or trying to follow it online during the day on my Iphone or Laptop (during my break & lunchtime) and hopefully I will witness something exceptional when Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt will compete for the 100m Gold Medal, maybe we will all witness sport history that day, maybe....