Roles of the characters + problems

15.11.2011

Hey guys,

today we first warmed up with the way I was dressed and you had to find the reason why. Here are the different suggestions you made:

a suit (to dress up)

-> date

-> special event ( party / wedding / ... )

-> superhero

-> meeting

-> job interview

-> "professional day"

Then we continued talking about the text. We clarified the role of each character or group of characters and we explained what the problems were:

The roles of the characters:

Jean Marie : the boss / the superior / the director / the head
Paul : Advisor / consultant ->
- he works on the project
- he corrects his colleagues' mistakes

- tries to find a name

- gives his ideas

- gives advice

His colleagues : the employees ->
- find a name
- give their ideas

Project : (to) launch British style tearooms
Paul's colleagues : their proposals (suggestions)

- My tea is rich : -> inspiration : French English lesson book ("My taylor is rich")

-> pb : It doesn't mean anything. It 's not English.

- Tea's café : -> inspirations : the French think it's English (place names)

-> pb : It's grammatically incorrect

Paul's suggestions: ... Teatime / Tea for two

The text and the author play with stereotypes and that's why it's funny.
For example, the French are certain that their proposals for the name of tearooms are perfect while their suggestions are not correct English.
"My tea is rich" comes from old language school books to help students practise pronunciation ("my taylor is rich" is like "where is my umbrella?" or "Brian is in the kitchen"). " Tea's café" is absolutely incorrect grammatically speaking; it doesn't mean anything. It is based on the fact that French people think names of places in English an apostrophe in them.

The French feel superior. They are said to be self-sufficient / smug / haughty and the text plays with it.
As for Paul's suggestions, to his colleagues and boss, they are too flat and don't sound English enough. They are not funny.

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