[lit-ideas] Re: help, please

  • From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 20:53:46 -0700

B. Hoffius wrote, in some elegant script I cannot reproduce:

Voila la reponse (sans accents)
Cela m'est egal Ca m'est egal
Il y en a d'autres. Ca n'est rien. ....... Pas d'importance Aucune importance Pas important

For some reason, which perhaps someone could explain (by referring to the ins and outs of French, and not to some psychological fact about me), I've always read and heard 'Ça m'est égale,' so that the l is heard (and the e seen). Both this and 'Ça m'est égal' mean the same thing in French. So, when there's nothing but a free-floating ça, how does one know whether to use the masculine or the feminine form? Or is égal the default and égale just a mistake?

Although, in fact, ça m'ést…

Robert Paul
reed.edu


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