It’s strange the words you forget in your own language when living abroad. Usually my memory lapses only last for a minute, but there was one word that I could not remember for the past five months.
I knew it didn’t really exist in France so I never bothered to search for it in the dictionary. I could have searched online or asked one of my American friends, like I did for multiprise. But instead I did nothing but try to remember.
Finally I attempted to explain what it was to David, knowing that he wouldn’t really know anyway. But something strange happened. As I was describing it and complaining that I couldn’t remember it for the past five months, it came to me.
SHINGLES.
Not the disease, the roofing material. But I have no idea why I was trying to remember that word in particular since I rarely have the habit of talking about roofing in English, much less in French (especially since shingles don’t even exist in France!)
