I think I've found a softer side to the French. It goes beyond mere good breeding. They are so immensely good at wishing you things. Good things. The wealth and variety of good things we have been wished, and the precision with which those wishes are bestowed, is humbling. We must start the search, right now, for an English equivalent.
Bonjour and bonne nuit, of course. Bon matin and bon après-midi are elegant refinements. Bon apétit is practically English anyway; and bon chemin, bonne route, bonne randonée and bonne promenade are all becoming familiar as the vocabulary of the walk. Then there is bon courage, spoken bracingly or pityingly. On the other hand, we rarely get a bonnes vacances.
In shops, bonne fin de journée or bon weekend trips off the tongue of every assistant while we're still fumbling with the change and the door, forgetting our manners. Restaurant waiters go even better. Bon apétit is followed by a bonne continuation or two, then bonne fin de repas and finally bonne fin de soirée.
So what can we do to measure up to all this niceness? I manage a "à vous aussi", but it sounds belated. I dream of one day getting in there first with a beautiful, appropriate, timely bon SOMETHING!
6 March 2008
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