Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-18
U.S.. SOLDIERS SPEAK
AMERICAN FRENCH"
Boys in Khaki Make "Incohe-
rent Noises" According
to the Natives
Washington, April lS

Washington. April rs
American French is what they
speak
/ They" means our American soldiers
overseas. The people Of France have
given this new name to the weird and
/ incoherent noises the ooys IN khaki
make under the impression that they
are using the best Of Partisan "parley."
All the same. our soldiers usually man
age to get what they want
How the American soldiers are learn
ing to speak French, the mistakes they
make and the dilemmas their ignorance
Of the language leads them into are
amusngly told in the following extracts
! from letters written by n Young Mems
/ Christian Association worker overseas:
1T is amusing to see our troops try
ing to converse with the townsDeople
one Of the officers told me that in let %
ter he censored one OF the men wrote
to his girl. We're picking up French
very rapidly We've already learned
that Wee, wee" means I'VE haven't any
more
FINDS Out About His Pants
zone afternoon down in the village
one of the men came up to me and said.
You speak French. don't you? I re-
piled that | could speak It just a little.
Then he said. I wish you'd help me out.
There's Frenchwoman over there
that's got my pants, and | can't seem to
| make her understand that I've got to
have 'em for inspection this afternoon
! asked. What's she doing with your
pants? and found that she'd just been
washing them for him. I went over
| with him. and got of a hesitating 'Ou
est ses pantalon?' There ensued a per-
feet torrent OF words. none of which
meant anything to me. So | tried out
my idea of When will he get them? In
| French She evidently had caught on
to the idea that her French didn't con-
vey anything to us, so she went through
/ vigorous motions, illustrating washing
and then pointed to the sky. Thereupon
the soldier said, oh, get her now. She
. means she's washed them and can't
. get them dry till the sun comes out.
Much obliged. Nothing doing today |
asked what he'd do about inspection,
and he said he guessed he'd try to bor-
row pair.
"A good deal Of this sort Of thing re-
minded me of the drawing Of Captain
Bairnsfather, the British officer, who
toons. find. along the British front
He has one picture of a placid Tommy
gazing at French porter, attired in
the customary long smock The Tommy
called Alf-has asked a simple uues-
tiou. to which the porter has replied
with a ive-minute oration in French
And the Tommy says. That's ali right
Now how does the chorus go?'
Talk French Enough to Get Eats
81 had a room in the village with
some people who sold cakes and fruit
to our men, and one afternoon | met a
young enlisted man in the hall. He had
bag of plums under his arm and
some money IN his hand, and I stopped
thinking 7 might have to help him out
with my pigeon French oh, ! can get
along all right he said. 7 can TAN
enough to get something TO eat
Then he turned to the girl, and said
in regular Broadway English Say got
any gingerbread? to which she an,
swered All. oui' Well, trot some out
will you?' As she darted into the kitchen
for the gingerbread, ! went on upstairs
lost in admiration Of his modern French
There is story going the rounds OF
sign in Paris restaurant. Wanted
American walters who can speak
French. Some one asked the proprietor
why he didn't get French walters il he
wanted French spoken He replied. oh
don't mean that. 7 mean American
French
Il ate at an officers mess in the house
OF Frenchwoman about fifty years old
One of the troops was detailed as her
assistant He was a young southerneI
from Tennessee, who had enlisted A,
soon as the war broke out at seventeen
years old. would sit at breakfast ant
hear the conversation going on in the
ktchen-mddame with perfect torren
Of French and Hudson In English. Will
his SLOW southern drawl, We tried C
carry on conversation with madam.
ourselves, with much referring to die
tionaries. Hudson would stand by, anc
when We just looked blank after one NJ
, her torrents he'd say: That's all right
She Just wants to know whether youl
friend is coming 10 supper tonight"
His first Public War
The men I worked with were regu
lars, part Of an infantry regiment tina
had been included in PershinE's column
In Mexico, However. the increase in tn,
size OF the companies TO war strength
and other factors had brought in man,
new men, so that about 20 per cent o
the battalion were recruits A grea
number of them were southerners. an,
IT would come out in various days on
of them from a feud section told on
Of the officers that he'd been in a goo,
many wars In his lifetime, but tina
this was the first public. war he'd eve
been in. Another a moonshinsr. wa
much pleased with the steel helmets
and remarked that when he got out II
the hills a. home he could lie out o.
the ground and no sheriff peppeTinE a
him with a shotgun could hurt him"
Teaching the men how TO speal
, French so that their struggles when the.
get overseas may be easy as possibl
, has been an important part Of the edu
cationai work of the Y. NJ. c. A. in thi
country.