....a WHAT?!

note: this entry may not be suitable for all readers, it will mention some thing that is inappropriate to talk about in polite company or in the presence of children...

So, I had the most fabulous trip in the Pays Basque over the weekend.  Before I wax lyrical and go photo-crazy all over this blog page, I thought I would recount a short tale of epic lost in translation.

My friends and I found a deal (thanks to it being off-season) where we were able to stay in a swanky little apartment overlooking the beach for the weekend for just 20€/person/night. FANTASTIC.  We were able to save a little money cooking our own meals, and it was very relaxing.  Part of staying in the apartment, however, was doing a little inventory to make sure all was there.  The front desk asked if we would like the list in French or in English.  We said "French," confidently, for that's why we're here! Practice! Practice! Practice!

Unfortunately our vocabulary does not extend to the kitchen.  There were the words we knew: cuillères, couteaux, couteaux de steack, les poêles, les verres, les tasses.  (All in caps, mind you, this is significant.)  And there were words we were not so familiar with, including the lovely kitchen appliance:

RAPE PLATE.

Yes, you read that right, the RAPE PLATE.  All in caps, this does not look like a device three girls traveling alone would like to have anywhere near them.  And, at that point, instead of searching for something that looked like a "rape plate" we decided to get the translations in English.

As we found out, a RAPE PLATE=GRATER. (Oh, but, of course!)  It comes from the verb "raper" which means "to grate or shred."  Like the popular entrée, carottes rapés, or the ever popular grated cheese, fromage rapé.  Ah, yes, indeed, this is much more comforting, however, it was all disconcerting at the time.  Notice, when in lower case, the "e" takes an accent to make it an "é" which transform the word from violent to French and totally not as scary.  The trick, though is, that most of the time, people do not put accents on uppercase letters, leading to the unfortunate incident recounted above....

Perhaps, upon reading this, you will be disgusted, or think I have poor taste.  I know that rape is no laughing matter, but I thought it was somewhat amusing at the time, and hopefully you see it as well?  No? Oh, well.