100 Word Challenge: Speak

I’ve been on a tear recently with this reading thing. Up to book 11 since the beginning of May and will most likely finish numbers 12 and 13 by the end of this week. I’m kind of digging “No TV” during the day, too.

Right now, I am on book nine of a 16 book series by Louise Penny. It’s been like binge-watching a show on Netflix. I get invested in the characters and not just the novels’ stories. I begin feeling like I know these characters like real people. I’m going to be sad when I reach the end of the series.

These books are set in and around Montreal so the author has peppered her dialogue with French words and phrases. I’m starting to recognize some of them by sight – even learning a few swear words – but don’t expect me to pronounce them correctly or recognize them when someone else speaks them aloud.

French is a weird language. If you’re a Francophone you’ll have to admit that’s true. To be fair,  I will say that American English is a whorebeast that is ridiculously difficult to learn and verbalize – take the combination of “ough.” There are at least seven different ways to pronounce it.

I’ll probably always be flummoxed by the French language. It doesn’t help that the translation app I’m using has a tinny, robotic voice so I can’t be sure I’m picking up on all the necessary nuances.

However, I am confident I am saying, “merde” correctly.

“Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.” ~ C. S. Lewis

This week’s word is:

Speak

What to do:

Using “speak” for inspiration, write 100 Words – 100 exactly – no more, no less. You can either use the word – or any form of the word – as one of your 100, or it can be implied. Include a link in your post back here, and add your story to the Mister Linky list. If you don’t have a blog, you can leave your submission in the comment section, or as a Facebook status post. Remember to keep spreading the love with supportive comments for your fellow Wordsters.