The thing I love about "voulez vous coucher avec moi" is that it's all over the place in formality level. Not only does it use the formal "vous" but also "voulez vous", grammatically correct but out of fashion , and not "vous voulez" or "est-ce que vous voulez" which are much more natural
So "voulez vous sounds like you are pretending to be extremely posh or talking to someone extremely posh and higher in social stance than you, or that you don't know. But then there is the "coucher" which is maybe less rude than "fuck" but much more than "have sex"
So all in all it's the less natural way of saying for a french person.
And I get that in Moulin Rouge (the film) the dancers are more or less sex workers but there is really few occasions in which you would have sex with someone you vouvoie (use the formal you). Granted high-end prostitution with nobles would be one of them.
But a one night stand with a total stranger is informal enough to grant the use of the informal tu, even if you don't even know their name. Yeah the Tu/vous rules are complex even for us.
I kind of need to see a French language AU where Stede is stumbling over whether to vous or tu Ed… while he’s inside Ed.
Never had this particular problem but on a couple of occasions I had blue screened brain and interiorally panicked because I didn't know if I should be formal or informal with someone in the company lunch area until I realised we were speaking English
Sometimes when I say you in my head there is a difference between you (vous) and you (tu). I know it doesn't make sense but somehow my brain still does the differentiation.
Ahh, same here, my first language also has formal and informal 'you' (two different pronouns), somehow I can always tell the difference 🥹
🤝🤝
At least french only as formal/informal. I know Hindi has formal/inform/even more informal (Aap, Tum, Tu) and I wonder how much of a headache it is.
I love this.
So, in this AU, both Stede and Ed are native English speakers who meet in France. Ed’s lived there for years and is fluent. Stede, well, he’s on holiday and he’s getting by - he hasn’t starved or gotten lost. They meet while out one evening & Stede doesn’t realize that Ed actually speaks English.
This reminds me that I REALLY need to get over my block and continue my, so far, two chapters Parisian AU I started to pour all of my daddy's issues, feeling about the gay marriage debate of 2012 and my feelings about my home city and living abroad.
Yes!! Do the thing!!
Perfect!!!
Meanwhile, Ed is delighting in this ridiculous man who’s trying so hard. They go their separate ways and meet much later at a work thing where Ed’s speaking English. Stede flushes. Ed winks. They buy a seaside inn and are insufferable forever and ever. The end.
🤩🤩🤩
For the rest of their lives Stede uses “vous” when he’s trying to get Ed into bed. It works.
Hope I’m not being annoying to share but you may not know—The original “Lady Marmalade” came out in 1974, performed by Labelle and written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, who I’m going to guess weren’t native French speakers😅 Definitely written as a French lyric that someone with almost no French+
could understand! If it had been written specifically for Moulin Rouge rather than Studio 54 they might have done a bit of a better job😂
Absolutely not annoying, on the contrary! I mean I have seen horrible french in big Hollywood movie before, so I am not sure, but to me it's more funny than anything else. It's like when lady gaga sung "je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche" it sounded a bit weird but it's funny.
We (English speakers) tend to construct sentences in other languages exactly how they’d be in English! 😔😅
I think everyone does. It took my mum for ages to say "I miss you" and not "you miss me" for instance
It’s also a ABBA Song. And was in the musical Mamma Mia!