A FOR ANCESTRAL

I think you know you’re getting old when you start mis-hearing things. Last night, during introductions to friends I hadn’t met before, there arose some confusion when I was introduced with what my ears heard as ‘une amie en sète’. While I was puzzling as to what this might mean (it has no meaning at all by the way), the person to whom I had been introduced had heard something QUITE different. I then noticed that they were looking quite quizzically at my tummy and hips and saying ‘Well, you wouldn’t know’. Thank goodness, my friend stepped in to prevent any further embarrassment by explaining that she had in fact introduced me as ‘une amie ancêtre’ (very old/ancestral friend) and not ‘une amie enceinte’ (pregnant friend). Oh, the hazards of foreign languages!