Her name, in the French classroom, was "Madame". Madame taught both French and Latin at my high school, which at the time, offered four-year programs in both languages. I spent four years with Madame, leaving adequately proficient in French. The French words and phrases that I now remember range from the sublime to the ridiculous. While in high school, my French-class compadres and I delighted in learning words and phrases that would have made the modest Madame blush and proceed to roundly chastise us. She was a career teacher and quite probably knew that her students would not only learn what the curriculum covered but would also get creative in what their curiosity would lead them to discover. "Sacre bleu" is still one of my favorite phrases not taught in the district curriculum.
Madame left her indelible stamp on me in ways other than four years of French. She was a stickler for pronouncing English words with the highest degree of accuracy and would not hesitate to correct someone for what she called "sloppy and lazy" speech. I can remember four words that, when pronounced incorrectly, would draw an immediate response from her to "say it right". She would then proceed to say the word herself and request that the offending "speaker" say the word correctly. To this day, I am very aware of the correct pronunciation of these words and marvel at the number of people, including television personalities - both local and national - who, in Madame's classroom, would be instructed to "say it right".
Illinois. Madame would painstakingly explain that it is "ill"inois, not "elle"inois. Just listen to people, including a news anchor tonight, and you will hear it pronounced "sloppily and lazily".
Wisconsin. Madame was born and raised in Wisconsin and it rankled her mightily to have her home state mispronounced. Many people, including native Wisconsinites, will say "Wes"consin, instead of "Wis" consin. Madame would always preface her correction with "ih" not "eh".
Picture versus pitcher. Oh, how she disliked hearing a student declare that the "pitcher" of the Sorbonne was beautiful. This mistake would always draw an immediate soft but unmistakable "hmmmf" just before the corrective process began.
Lastly,the month of February. She could become almost irate when a student would say, "Febuary".
"Ru, ru, ru" she would repeat over and over, as if repetition was sure to cure the student of the serious omission of the letter "r" from the middle of the word.
And so, Madame, I leave you with this thought:
The picture of the pitcher that was featured in the "Wisconsin" magazine, is now featured in Illinois during the month of February.
Ancora imparo
