At dinner tonight we had a good laugh with France-Claire. The last time she was here she was with her boyfriend, Michael. The four of us were having dinner together when ….
France-Claire: “Babushka, can you pass me the potatoes,” she asked her boyfriend.
Michael: “Here you go, Babushka.” he answered, as he handed her the plate.
Patrick and I looked at each other intrigued.
Me: “Why are the two of you calling each other Babushka?” I wanted to know.
Patrick: “Do you know what it means?”
France-Claire: Yes, of course! It’s means “baby” in Russian.
Patrick and I (in unison): “No it doesn’t!
F-C and Michael (in unison): “Yes it does!”
Patrick and I looked at each other and started laughing so hard, we couldn’t stop! France-Claire and Michael just stared at us as though we had gone crazy.
Me: “You mean the two of you have been calling each other that thinking you’re saying “Baby” in Russian?!”
F-C: “Yes, that’s our pet name for each other.”
Michael: “It means baby!”
Another round of laughter from Patrick and I before he finally managed to blurt out, “It means grandmother!”
F-C and Michael: “You mean we’ve been calling each other granny all this time, nuh uh!”
Me: “Well in Pittsburghese
Patrick and I were wiping tears from our eyes while Michael and France-Claire were looking perplexed. They now had to replace their term of endearment with another word!
Maya Muses: Two young people in their early twenties calling each other “Grandma” was just too funny for words!
Photo Credits: I promised not to use their real photos in this post! So it’s Flickr photos instead!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Deena // Apr 7, 2009 at 1:08 pm
That’s funny! They should look up the word baby in Russian or maybe they have.
2 Lynn // Apr 7, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I’ll have to ask F-C what they call each other now. I looked up the word baby in Russian, but I wouldn’t even know how to pronounce it!
Pe6ehok = Baby
3 Harriet // Apr 7, 2009 at 10:08 pm
What a good laugh. Why don’t you suggest they consider some of the funny French pet-names, like chou-chou……
4 Lynn // Apr 8, 2009 at 5:57 pm
France-Claire does speak French, so they were going for something more exotic (LOL)….or so they thought!
5 Patrick // Apr 11, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Harriet, my favorite french pet-names are:
Mon petit choux (my little cabbage or my little cream puff).
Ma biquette: my little goat.
Ma biche: my little deer.
Mon bichon: my little buck.
Mon p’tit loup: my little wolf.
Ma poule: my chicken.
Mon petit lion: my little lion.
Ma pitchounette: no translation
Ma crotte: my dropping (yeah!!! I am not kidding.
Ma jolie fée des iles: My pretty fairy from the islands ( I much prefer this one than the previous one…)
Mon gros nounours: My fat teddy bear.
6 Lynn // Apr 11, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Yes, he does use all of those except for ma crotte and he wouldn’t dare use the last one on me!!! LOL
7 Harriet // Apr 12, 2009 at 3:40 am
Patrick, are you sure that a French person would use ma crotte as a term of endearment??? I think ma mie (my little bit/crumb) would sound better!
Could you teach my Richard how to say “ma cherie” with a French accent…..
Happy Easter to both of you!
8 Lynn // Apr 12, 2009 at 5:15 am
I like your ma mie better than ma crotte, but now we’re getting back to babushka! When you say “ma mie” it sounds like “mamie” which once again goes back to “granny”!!! LOL!!!
Happy Easter to you and Richard as well!
9 patrick // Apr 12, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Harriet, you make me laugh. Sure I can teach Richard and I am sure you’ll be delighted :>.
Well “ma crotte” is mostly use for young children. I know it’s still weird, but as everybody knows, French people are…different.
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