The Best Pain Au Chocolat Experience Ever

I know, I know. Pain au chocolat is always a wonderful experience. So delicious! So crispy! So warm!

But I swear, this one was the best.

A lot of times, I will say something to someone in French. It's usually just a word or two, that I'm sure I'm not mispronouncing and have said and heard a million times. "Une baguette s'il vous plait." "Un pain au chocolat, s'il vous plait." "Un café, s'il vous plait."And then the person starts talking to me in English. What! I said that right! I think to myself. I don't think they mean anything by it, they just assume that I don't know anything but the names of pastries in French. Yes, I have been studying French for more than 5 years and I can use the subjunctive (under very special circumstances), but I understand. A lot of Americans in Paris don't know squat! So I don't blame them for speaking English to me, but it makes me feel like I have failed and then I am grouchy for the rest of the day.

But today...oh, today! I walked into this bakery, said hello with a very good accent, and I asked the guy for a pain au chocolat. And he smiled a little bit and said "Yes." Very deliberately, too. Like he was saying, "I know your dark secret! You speak English! Me too!" And I was disappointed for a second, but then he said:

"If you want to seem more Parisian..."

And if you're in a study abroad program in Paris, you probably feel the same way as I do. Seeming Parisian has somehow become my ultimate goal in life. I don't know why, because it doesn't matter at all, but if people ask me directions I do a little dance of joy, and if people offer to point me towards the Eiffel Tower I cry for days. I make all m clothing choices based on blending in. I hide my camera. I hide my map. I carry my textbooks with the covers towards me so no one can see that they're in English. So when he said "If you want to seem more Parisian..." I was instantly hanging on to every lightly accented syllable like he was some kind of messiah.

"If you want to seem more Parisian," he said, "you should say 'pain au chocolat.'"

Now, you're probably wondering what the difference between "pain au chocolat" and "pain au chocolat" is. I was too! At first I thought he meant I had said it wrong, but then I realized what he was saying was that I should not use a liaison between the n of pain and the a of au.

Side note for you non-Francophones: 
Generally you don't pronounce the last consonant in a word, unless the next word begins with a vowel sound. For example: 
"Je suis très cool." = Zjhe swee tray cool. = I am very cool.
"Je suis interessant." = Zjhe sweez anterressant. = I am interesting.
Hey, I never said French was easy. (Wait, did anyone ever say French was easy? They were lying to you.)


He explained very nicely that I was actually grammatically correct to use a liason, but that you would never catch a Frenchperson saying "pan-oh-shock-oh-lah."And then he sent me on my merry way, pai(n) au chocolat in hand, with an awesome new tactic for seeming French. :)

I love when people help you learn French instead of just brushing you off.

It was a beautiful moment.