Shopping for medium grade explosives last night in Morrisons, I spotted these little beauties on the counter.
Umbrellas, sold under the label “Mon Accessory Fétiche“, apparently with little consideration to how it’s going to look to the Brits. I looked up the words, and while “mon” means “my” and “fétiche” in this case probably means “favourite”, the French for “accessory” is apparently “accessoire” which leads me to a disturbing conclusion. Someone thought that the French word accessoire would look better translated into English, but left fétiche as it was.
I have an umbrella already. How odd they should offer me a new one on the basis it can be my favourite.
And then I looked a bit closer. Can you see the smaller words underneath? Apparently, the whole phrase should read “Mon accessoire fétiche à la folie passionnément.” which translates roughly as “My favourite accessory to passionate madness.” Well, I’m glad we sorted that out. That makes so much more sense. I’m really going to buy one now. Or maybe I’ll stick to fireworks.
Andrew Clayton 