FRENCH ACCENTS

The French Accents I am referring to here are the ones which appear over certain letters in written French, not the regional variations of accent found in spoken French, although before I get started, I will recall one incident.

I was walking through a village I often stayed at near Narbonne in the Languedoc region of southern France. I was spotted by Michael the owner of the local convenience store, who was looked up at the sky and called to me "Beaucoup de vin". I followed his gaze, but only saw clear blue sky, nothing wine coloured. Admittedly I had been buying quite a lot of wine from his shop, so I wondered if he was referring to that. So I replied "Pardon?". He then started puffing up his cheeks and blowing out. "Ah, beaucoup de vent" I surmised. "Oui, beaucoup de vin" he nodded.

During one of my early French lessons we were told a little story to help us remember the written French accents. It was accompanied by a chalk illustration on the blackboard. It may not seem much of a story, but it worked for me.

One day a father gave his son a bicycle for his birthday present. The father said, "Son you can ride wherever you like on this side of the mountain, but I forbid you to ride on the mountain itself".

The boy enjoyed riding his bike, but one day he got bored so he decided to ride over the mountain.

First he puffed and panted as he peddled up the acute slope of the mountain. After passing the summit, he peddled furiously and picked up tremendous speed before having a grave accident.

His bike was a total write off, but he was not badly injured. When his father heard what he had done, he made made him bend over while he flexed a cane against his posterior. The circumflex is the shape his legs made while bending over.