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New French with Ease question

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Footnoted
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 Message 1 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:16am | IP Logged 
The active wave has brought me back to Lesson 2, Au Magasin (btw I only forgot the word for wool, so I'm feeling pretty good). The burning question which has haunted me since I first completed this lesson all those weeks ago, the answer to which is sure to decode all things Gallic for me once and for all, is, What is the point of the bizarre final exchange between the shopkeeper and the customer who is shopping for a hat and gloves at close to 5 p.m. on a rainy day while waiting for her husband?        

Edited by Footnoted on 31 August 2011 at 5:16am

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newyorkeric
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 Message 2 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:49am | IP Logged 
No reason. For all the good things about Assimil there are still stinker lessons in which the dialogs make little sense.
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Arekkusu
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 Message 3 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:11pm | IP Logged 
I haven't seen the exchange, but if you wrote some of it, we might notice some grammatical notion that would warrant the exchange?

Oh and by the way, it's "Au magasin" without a capital on magasin. French doesn't capitalize words in a title.
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t123
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 Message 4 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:51pm | IP Logged 
You can see it here: http://www.proot.de/download/fr/assimil_fr_lesson.pdf (from http://www.assimil.de/sprachen/franzoesisch.php)

A woman is waiting for husband who's only coming at 5 o'clock. Because it's raining outside she goes into a shop to wait there instead. Either she's
killing time or to appear as a shopper and not someone just waiting around, she starts asking random question to the sales assistant.

Edited by t123 on 31 August 2011 at 5:53pm

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Arekkusu
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 Message 5 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:55pm | IP Logged 
... that's it? That's all that worried you? The woman expects her husband to pick her up at 5, and she doesn't want to wait outside in the rain. They are introducing time, "il pleut", reinforcing the negative... It wouldn't have bothered me that much.
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therumsgone
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 Message 6 of 20
31 August 2011 at 5:58pm | IP Logged 
I always thought that it was that she wanted to leave after she found out that the gloves weren't made out of natural
fiber (wool) but acrylic. However, she had to kill time since her husband wasn't coming back until 5. I could be
totally wrong though.
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Footnoted
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 Message 7 of 20
31 August 2011 at 6:06pm | IP Logged 
I was being somewhat facetious in my question which I guess did not come through--anyway I wouldn't say I was worried or bothered. I just thought it was an odd exchange, one in which the point of the little story wasn't that clear, different from other passages. But I see now it makes sense.

Edited by Footnoted on 31 August 2011 at 6:07pm

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Arekkusu
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 Message 8 of 20
31 August 2011 at 6:10pm | IP Logged 
I can't stand Assimil, specifically for that reason -- pointless, truncated dialogues. Their goal is clearly to introduce vocabulary and grammar, not to present sensible dialogues.


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