Franchement!
That's my new word. It means more or less the same thing as English "frankly," but can be used as an exclamation like English "Well, honestly!" And it is thus that I have been using it. Incessantly. Whatever, it works.
My new occasion to use it? I'm still not registered for two of my classes. My request was turned down because - get this - the LSQ linguistics classes which I came all the way to Montréal principally to take "focus on Quebec Sign Language - that is, for deaf people - and thus doesn't really fit your interests." Said by a registrar who has never me and no clue what my interests are - and addressed to Monsieur Nassira Nicola. Franchement!
I sent her a polite note explaining my interests (and the fact that I work in the domain and know what I'm doing and have already started to do the work for the class, including a hellish problem set I just printed out), so we'll see if the refusal can be reversed. If not, we may have to have a face-to-face chat, Ms. Registrar and I. I think the head of the LSQ research group (also the professor of one of the classes) might have a few things to say, too. In the meantime, I can but grumble.
In non-grumbly news (because I've made a promise to whine less), I spent the afternoon chatting with the U of M Association of Muslim Students, who seem very cool. I even got a free copy of the Qu'ran (in French) and yummy-seeming vanilla incense. I can't wait to use it. I am also being stared at, as I type, by an adorable dog - and that never fails to make me smile!
Next entry will - I promise - have to do with the vagaries of local terms to describe marital and other conjugal relations. Suffice it to say, they're not as self-evident as they seem at first.
Ok, off to pet cute dog.