Sometimes I just love the French language… not only for its beautiful cadence and its romantic sound.. because it is most definitely those things… but also because I find some French words and their translations adorable.
In this case I am talking about lemons and limes… and perhaps it is only me who could make a story out of lemons and limes… but this was a moment that I found endearing.
Before I begin, the word for lemon in French is ‘citron’ and the word for lime is ‘citron vert’… which translates as green lemon.
A lemon is a lemon but a lime is a green lemon… this has never really made sense to me because I know them as two completely different fruits.
Apparently they are different species; the Latin name for lemon is citrus limon, and the Latin name for lime is citrus medica which means that the colour is not the only difference between them.
But what do I know? French vocabulary has deemed that a lime is… a green lemon.
Sunday nights we generally eat out at our local pizzeria restaurant, La Cantina in Saint Rémy de Provence.
It is our favourite and whether we are a large crowd or just two… it is the best place to finish the weekend.
Great pizzas, pastas and salads… and as wonderful as French cooking is, sometimes an Italian touch is very welcome. On Sunday night we were there when the lemon and the lime conversation arose.
We were ordering drinks… vodkas with fresh lime… Simple really, as ‘vodka’ is a universal word.. but when it came to the addition of fresh ‘lime’ we got in a muddle… We asked for ‘citron vert’… easily said in French… so our waiter knew what we were asking for.
The fun came when he insisted on speaking in English… it may have been because he was young, cute and wanted to impress our table of pretty young girls (most who only spoke English)… who knows… but he was determined to answer our requests and take our orders in English.
I have to say that I so admire the French and their willingness to speak our language whenever they can… I am not so sure that the English speaking populations try as hard.
The problem was that the restaurant had run out of limes… the waiter could not communicate this as he did not know the English word for ‘lime’.
As his frustration grew and his lack of vocabulary got the better of him… he looked defeated.. … until… suddenly remembering… he announced, ‘I have only the yellow one’.
‘Yellow ones’ were perfect… and we were rewarded by his huge smile and a sigh of relief that he had finally broken through the language barrier… We didn’t have the heart to tell him that the ‘yellow one’ was a lemon and not a lime… that would have been an explanation that would have ruined his triumph.
Is a lime a green lemon… or is a lemon a yellow lime? We found the possibilities endless… and had a good laugh over the meaning of words and the wonder of language.
La Cantina
19 Boulevard Victor Hugo
13210 Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France
+33 4 90 90 90 60
