Re: It is not just Physics that Should be Hard in Hard SF

Lynn McGuire wrote:

Paul S Person wrote:

Don wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

William Hyde wrote:

Don wrote:
>

Bobb[ie] Sellers, how do you imagine Poirot's being Belgian precludes his
(and Christie's own) Francophilia? Or perhaps, as you see it, their
Francophilia is also imaginary? (In the latter case we'll agree to
disagree.)

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Read the books, and you will understand.
>

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It has been a few decades since I have read any of the Hercule Poirot
stories, but I don't remember any comment that he was a Francophone.
That he almost certainly was one was obvious.

>
It's fun for fiction fans to fuss budget over the nuances of Poirot's
psychological proclivity for French. (Christie's own Francophilia's
beyond doubt, at least for me.)
    Regardless, ratiocination's ready to resolve this riddle.
POIROT'S EARLY CASES is a favorite, packed with Poirot parlance. The
stories are splendidly sprinkled with Fench. He uses Mon Dieu! (My God!)
in four of the stories:
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    "The Affair at the Victory Ball"
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        'Aha!' said Poirot. 'Aha! Mon Dieu! Japp, that gives one
        to think, does it not?'
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    "The Double Clue"
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        'What a woman!’ cried Poirot enthusiastically as we
        descended the stairs. 'Mon Dieu, quelle femme!'
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    "The King of Clubs"
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        'Mon Dieu, I cannot always be talking blood and thunder!'
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    "The Lost Mine"
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        'He turned up that evening - Mon dieu, what a figure!'
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"Parbleu!" (Heavens above!) is used in three stories. These examples
illustrate how Poirot reverts to French when surprised. Such behavior
indicates French serves as his mother tongue.

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As one would expect of a (French-speaking) Belgian.
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You did know that Belgium is linguistically mixed, right?

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My great grandparents were immigrants from Belgium in 1903 or so.  Their
native language was Flemish as they were Flemish.  They were refugees,
having been burned out by one the guilds.
>
My great grandfather spoke Flemish, German, Dutch, French, and English.
His first job in the USA was an interpreter in a water pump factory in
Illinois that had 2,000 immigrants working in it.

Your great-grandparent's story is one of my favorites, Lynn. His IQ
probably went deep into the Right Hand Side of the chart.

FWIW, my own Belgian story follows.

A former clinical associate of mine came from Belgium. He worked as a
criminal psychologist. His case load included one of the James Byrd Jr.
murderers.
    The psychologist warned me about pedophiles who exploited Lime Wire
back in the day to store their porn on other people's PCs. It's my
understanding when law enforcement discovers pedo porn on a PC its
owner goes to prison.
    One of his patients proclaimed it was disrespectful to look the
patient in the eye when you spoke to him. Yet it was also disrespectful
to not look him in the eye. This patient's peculiar psychopathic
playbook ensured whatever you did was wrong - with violence dispensed to
discourage disrespect in the future.

My newfound appreciation for ratiocination, in the style of Belgian
Piorot, provides provisional insight into the mental ritual performed by
the psychologist to pick passwords. They were long, intricate, and
informed by Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE.
    Whenever he needed to enter a password the psychologist peered off
into open space, presumably to mentally calculate it. At such times
everything stood still. Seconds slowly passed until you were sure he
would never remember it ... then ... voila! He suddenly sprang to life,
quickly scribbled it down on a notepad, and keyed it into his PC.
    His office furniture was a little ... different. His chairs looked
like surrealistically shape shifted Catholic kneelers sculpted to
slacker specs. You sat with your calves under your thighs and no chair
back. It gave the impression it was good for your posture, without
knowing exactly why.

ObSF:

    "What is your brother's name?" I asked, trying to adjust
    myself to this new idea.

    "Achille Poirot," replied Poirot gravely. "He lives near
    Spa in Belgium."

    THE BIG FOUR

Spa is in the primarily French speaking part of Belgium.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's  )\._.,--....,'``.     https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /,   _.. \   _\  (`._ ,.    Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'    Make 1984 fiction again.