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Etalogue: Why Do Frenchmen? (2) ↑

bavi в посте Metapractice (оригинал в ЖЖ)

F: What do you think? I mean, what does it make you think when a Frenchman waves his arms?
D: I think it looks silly, Daddy. But I don't suppose it looks like that to another Frenchman. They cannot all look silly to each other. Because if they did, they would stop it. Wouldn't they?
F: Perhaps—but that is not a very simple question. What else do they make you think?
D: Well—they look all excited .. .
F: All right—"silly" and "excited."
D: But are they really as excited as they look? If I were as excited as that, I would want to dance or sing or hit somebody on the nose … but they just go on waving their arms. They can't be really excited.
F: Well—are they really as silly as they look to you? And anyhow, why do you sometimes want to dance and sing and punch somebody on the nose?
D: Oh. Sometimes I just feel like that.
F: Perhaps a Frenchman just feels "like that" when he waves his arms about.
D: But he couldn't feel like that all the time, Daddy, he just couldn't.
F: You mean—the Frenchman surely does not feel when he waves his arms exactly as you would feel if you waved yours. And surely you are right.
D: But, then, how does he feel?
F: Well—let us suppose you are talking to a Frenchman and he is waving his arms about, and then in the middle of the conversation, after something that you have said, he suddenly
stops waving his arms, and just talks. What would you think then? That he had just stopped being silly and excited?
D: No . . . I'd be frightened. I'd think I had said something that hurt his feelings and perhaps he might be really angry.
F: Yes—and you might be right.

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