harlekins spirit

Let’s be clear from the start: This post is not about the excessive use of alcohol! This time it’s actually exactly what it says.

Several years ago, a former colleague and still good friend of mine, a Frenchwoman who lives in Germany, came into the office in the morning completely shocked. She told me that she had spoken to her mother in France on the phone that morning and in the course of the conversation wanted to tell her that she had bought a new bathrobe. But she couldn’t think of the French word for “bathrobe”! She was very startled by this and feared that she was forgetting her mother tongue.

Harlequin “mix”

As this topic is very close to our hearts, several harlequins have commented on it. Here is our “Harlequin mix” with the collected comments:

Tit for tat

My first conscious acquaintance with what is meant by respect, without knowing the term, was in early childhood as the – sometimes forceful – demand to obey and behave respectfully towards my parents and grandparents.

Names are more than just smoke and mirrors

When we were expecting our latest grandchild, my husband and I were asked for our opinion on possible first names. Because the child’s relatives live in the Netherlands and Peru, it should be a name that is familiar in both countries and easy to pronounce in both languages. One of the names on the list was “Camilla” – and I was the one who spoke out against it because of the aforementioned association.