“We have these menus in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Russian, ” the butler says proudly. “Which one do you prefer?”
“It doesn’t matter, ” I say, puffing up like a peacock. “I can read in all of these languages. ”
We all have our small vanities. What is yours?
I preen quite terribly whenever somebody compliments my sense of fashion. After years of having people tell me repeatedly to “tone it down” or “dress more normally” or “look less outlandish”, I tend to be quite the proud one when somebody, especially someone quite fashionable themselves, tells me that my personal style is fabulous, dapper, cute, and trend-setting, which happens very often now. 🙂
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Maybe you should start posting pictures of your outfits on your blog. And maybe I should post mine!
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The same. In college, some professor handed out a syllabus with instructions for papers. It said: “All quotations of primary sources must be in the original, from a current, standard edition of the text. Papers may be written in any language I can read.” It made an impression on me because the prof. was clearly not saying that to boast that s/he could read several languages, but only because s/he wanted things read in the original but knew students would have preferences for writing in a variety of languages. I instantly knew that that kind of ease was what I wanted.
Related, a greater vanity: ability to blend in in a variety of foreign cultures, to drop assumptions and pick up on what the local ones are really fast. This is a great skill, and it is fun (for me) to do, although there are downsides to being that adaptable (as in, being too accepting of certain things that go on here in Maringouin).
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I believe that there are very few traditional sea chanteys currently being sung in North America that I don’t know. Of course I’ve got nothing on this guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/hultonclint/videos
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If I can, I always read the menu in the language it was written! Even some really great places often contain errors or awkward translations that don’t convey how great a dish could be.
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My ear! I am really musical which translates well to linguistics too. And my GPA, but I try to be modest about that.
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I was so obsessed with my GPA that I used it as a PIN number for my bank card for years. The PIn consisted of the GPA and the number of credits I’d earned in my Major. 🙂 So I really understand your feelings on the matter. 🙂
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My small vanity which is totally pathetic really is that I live in the South of France and am thus envied by all my pasty-looking UK-bound friends. Shallow of me but true. 🙂
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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