to be irritated by the way my mum really overpronounces any french/italian etc. words in an effort to sound "refined"?

[peacelily]

e.g. when in cafe Rouge she really goes to town when reading out her order to the waiter. And when we walked passed a shoes shop the other day she made a massive point of saying how great "Gabor" boots were but really elongating the oor bit. it makes me cringe.

She always tries so hard to sound so "rah darling" grrrrr!!

Sorry for APALLING grammar, passed instead of past I've made myself cringe!

Message withdrawn

lol very irritating and not unreasonable at all.Mine is great for saying the wrong thing for instance she calls a Volvo car a Vulva!! when my dh first heard her say it his face was a picture

not quite the same, but how we laughed when my mum wrote on an airmail letter 'Par Avignon' instead of 'Par Avion'

since moving out of london, my mum really shouts down the phone, thinks i cant here her now im further away.

can forgive her for it a little more when actually IN France, after all it's better than just shouting at them slowly in halted English (!)

However when she says merci and really lays it on thick with the guttural r bit FGS. She never slips either and forgets to be pretentious, she can mention a word such as "milieu" several times in a conversation and EVERYTIME it's really overpronounced.

she's a fine example of a woman from working class roots who's scraped and fought to join the middle classes and my god she doen't intend to let go!

My mum does this. And she speaks to foreign people in bizarre imitation accents - as if she's in an episode of 'allo 'allo and they'll understand her if she does pigeon English at them.

'ah 'ello ow are we today? are you enjoying zis fine english morning?'

What? Mum? What has happened to your accent?

'ah am just spikking wis zis naz young gentleman from france! ee iz visiting zee area!'

'mum! please! stop!'

It's only my mum and her ilk who would use the word milieu on a regular basis.

the rest of us just say atmosphere, or at a push ambiance!

Peacelily!!! My long lost sister!!!

You must be, you have just described Mum down to a tee

i think it's quite a common theme amongst mums bless 'em!

We might end up being thinly disguised snobs too you know!