Barbs' b-day celebration

Guess what the theme is?

Native Americans, because of course.

This is not real life.

The sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me

All too polite and just a little too friendly

While in the UK, I was constantly made fun of by a certain Mr. Sam Doyle for thanking everyone "sooo much" for the most meaningless of tasks, i.e. someone scanning my boarding pass or handing me a napkin and a receipt with my croissant. According to him, a simple "thank you" normally suffices.

Before Sam ever-so-subtely pointed it out to me *sarcasm*, I had never noticed how (ob)noxious my over-politeness actually is. From that week on, I have tried - to the best of my abilities - to save "sooo much" for special occasions.

This has changed how I interact with folks, especially when it comes to French. Avoiding "so much" has spared me the embarrassment of accidentally hitting on everyone I know. "Thank you so much"  translates into "merci beaucoup" in French. Merci is easy enough to say; however, beaucoup is a little bit of a disaster when pronounced with an American accent. "How?" you might ask. Funny story. Broken  down, "beau" means handsome or beautiful, and "cul," which is how we tend to pronounce "coup," means ass. Put that all together and...

"Give me a 'beau'!"
"BEAU!"
"Give me a 'cul'!"
"CUL!"
"What does that spell?!"

Thank you, you sexy ass, you!