N'importe Quoi

"N'importe quoi" is one of my favourite French expressions. I use it daily, often to the confusion of my friends and colleagues. It is an incredibly versatile saying and has no real English equivalent, likely why I like it so much. It is the idiosyncratic places between language that get me excited, and pretty much the reason why I want to learn more and more. When I searched online for a translation and definition for NPQ I was not surprised to find several:

Literally/Directly: No importance what.

Also: Whatever, Gibberish, Nonsense, Anything, Any old thing, Bullshit, Outrageous, Blantantly false.

Examples:

Ce magasin vend tout et n'importe quoi.
This store sells anything and everything.

N'écoute pas Philippe - il dit n'importe quoi.
Don't listen to Philippe - he's talking nonsense.

Claire: Va te faire foutre!
Jean-Paul: N'importe quoi!

Claire: Go fuck yourself!
Jean-Paul: Whatever!

Claire: J'ai recu un C sur mon essai.
Jean-Paul: C'est n'importe quoi, ça!

Claire: I got a C on my essay.
Jean-Paul: That's bullshit!


I'd love to see n'importe quoi used by the masses. Please spread it around and enjoy!

A Curiousity

Or a sign of the times?

I went to Starbucks today (spare me your diatribe about the evils corporate coffee, please) where I was offered a free CD. A free Christmas CD. I gracefully declined, much to the surprise of the girl behind the counter who told me I was the first. The first to not care about over played Christmas music? The first to already have enough junk cluttering up my life? No. Just the first to not be sucked in by consumer culture and seduced by free "goods". The first to walk away with just my evil corporate coffee. Can I call this irony?

Welcome

Some time ago people started putting a label on me. They said it like it meant something and like I should do something about it. They called me a "writer".

Now, I've never known what the standards are for judging who is or who isn't a writer, and I, frankly, don't care. I've never thought of myself that way and as much as I've tried to disguise the mark they put on me, people always seem to know. The very first day of my very first class at college began with us creating a metaphor for writing. Before I'd even had the chance to read my bit outloud the boy who sat in front of me had turned around, read what I'd written, rolled his eyes back and proclaimed, "Oh. So, you're, like, a 'writer'. Huh." He never spoke to me again.

Maybe it's the way I talk, my love of good stories, my never ending questions, or a strange look in my eye. Maybe I'll never know. I just thought I'd finally give it try. Let me be clear about this, I'm not here to verbally masturbate for you all. I'm just here to write down a few thoughts, maybe squeeze out a few stories, chronicle my travels and get out the odd rant. You are welcome to join me for the journey. Whether this turns to out to "writing" or not will depend, I suppose, largely on you. Love it, hate it, serve it to your cat - I'm not all that fussed. I'm just walking a new path, seeing where it'll take me.