There was a HUGE dent in the fender

Walking along the rue de la liberté, a car is passing us slowly when a biclyclist flies down the road, straight into the front bumper. The biker is thrown off his seat and audibly smacks his face against the front windshield. The driver is understandably alarmed. The cyclist pushes himself off the hood of the car, climbs back onto his bike, waves 'My bad' at the driver, and pedals off. He didn't even raise an eyebrow.

Now, from this we can derive that France makes both bikes and cyclists better than it makes cars, because there was like a foot missing off the front of that fender. Only very slightly exagerrating

Also, I learned today how words are made. There is a council of learned men - I assume they are men - which carefully monitors the development of new concepts to apply labels to, particularly in the States. Thus, when we invented email, they invented 'courriel.'

They are assiduous; before the american word can cross the ocean, they have already
1. Created the word and
2. Instructed all government personnel, including all media, to use the French word in place of the English word and
3. Patted themselves on the back. Job well done.

Frustratingly, the learned council has discovered that 'couriel' is much less appealing to the French then is 'email.' Their solution to this has been to issue a synonym -

Mail electronique becomes 'Mel,' which is conveniently exactly how the French pronounce 'Mail,' so that when they hear the peuple dans la rue discussing their correspondence, the council can be assured that their authority is respected.