soc.history.war.world-war-ii

Louis C wrote:
> Hal Hanig wrote:
>
>> The spelling of your name threw me.....my face is suitably red. Where I
>> come from, Michele with an "e" at the end would be a feminine name, but
>> perhaps your parents were disappointed when you showed up and said "the
>> hell
>> with it.....leave the "e" on the end"!
>
> Wow, talk about adding insult to injury, thankfully I had put down my
> cup before reading this, otherwise I'd be wiping my keyboard just from
> imagining Italian readers jumping up and down in reaction...
>
> Foreigners are, well, foreign. They don't do things like regular
> people. Which is why they're called foreigners in the first place,
> come to think of it.
>
> So someone named Michael will be Michel in French and Michele in
> Italian. The feminine (in French, not in Italian!) version will be
> Michelle, as in the Beatles song.
>
> Note that Michele spells very much like Michelle but isn't pronounced
> the same at all.
>
> For your further edification, Andrew in Italian is Andrea so don't go
> around imagining that the Italians named their Andrea Doria battleship
> after a pretty girl as opposed to a very good (and definitely male)
> Genoese admiral.
>
> Furthermore, Michele's fellow Italian poster Davide P. has an "e" at
> the end of his first name but don't go around and call him "cherie" as
> he'd make a really ugly girl... Now that we've settled the matter of
> the Italian wannabe transvestites, I suggest that you be consistent
> and start addressing everyone whose first name ends with an "e" as
> girls. The various Mike's patronizing this newsgroup may not speak
> French too well, though, so you may want to use "honey" rather than
> "ma cherie". Don't try that stunt on the current US president though,
> if you know what's good for you...

I thought that my use of "ma cherie" would have told Italian readers that I
was thinking French rather than Italian. Mike's name in French was, is and
will remain "Michel" regardless of what the Italians call him. Had I
intended to convey that I thought Mike to be Italian, I'd have said "cara
mia" instead of "ma cherie".....so thanks for your extensive education about
the Italians which was largely wasted on me in that it told me stuff I
already knew.

Anyway, I was trying to be cute in using that term and certainly didn't
intend for it to stir up the shit storm it apparently did with you. I plead
guilty and bare my back for twenty lashes with Dear Abby's proverbial wet
noodle. I'll try to remember not to challenge our readers too much in the
future.
>
>
> LC