Me Talk Pretty One Day

by David Sedaris

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Student Question

What is the effect of the scrambled words in Sedaris's essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day"?

Quick answer:

The scrambled words in David Sedaris's essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day" illustrate his difficulty understanding French, despite his previous exposure to the language. By using gibberish like "meimslxsp" and "lgpdmurct," Sedaris humorously conveys his confusion and frustration in class, making the reader relate to the experience of language barriers. This technique effectively highlights his sense of bewilderment and enhances the comedic aspect of his narrative.

Expert Answers

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To see why David Sedaris sprinkles scrambled nonsense words like "meimslxsp" and "lgpdmurct" into his essay titled "Me Talk Pretty One day," rather than real French words, we must have a clear understanding of his purpose and thesis. His purpose is to describe himself as a 41-year-old who has just returned to school to study the French language in Paris. His thesis can be found farther down in about the third paragraph in which he describes his first day of class as a "nerve-racking" experience. More specifically, he asserts his surprise to find that, despite not considering himself a complete novice because of all the summers he spent in Normandy and having taken a "monthlong French class" in New York, he was only able to understand half of what his Paris French teacher was saying. After stating this all important thesis that he only understood half of what his French teacher was saying, he illustrates it by quoting his French teacher in such a way that he translates into English what he was capable of understanding in French and using gibberish to quote what he couldn't understand, as we see when he says:

If you have not meimslsxp of lgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room. Has everyone apzkiubjow? Everyone? Good, we shall begin.

From this we can understand that every single word he correctly said in English were the words he was able to understand; the gibberish words were French words the teacher said that he couldn't understand at all. Since the words sounded like gibberish to the author, he wrote them as gibberish for us to see simply because that's the farthest he could get with the words. The approach is extremely effective and comical because the reader is able to relate to not being able to understand certain words being spoken out loud, especially if the reader has studied a foreign language or been in a foreign country, plus able to clearly see the poor author sitting in the classroom feeling befuddled and frustrated. In short, Sedaris included gibberish words in his essay in lieu of real French words to indicate he did not know or recognize the French word he was hearing.

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