“categoire.”

Le 6 decembre   In all of the blogs I’ve written, I’ve somehow managed to leave out one not-so-insignificant story. It started just one little drop in the ocean and has turned into a tremendous part of my identity here.

During my first few weeks here, I was just beginning to categorize the library of the sisters. I was enjoying my work – the organizing as well as putting the works into the computer to keep a tidy system for the library. Sr. Lumiere had come to visit for a few days and the two of us happened to be alone at the lunch table.

“Qu’est-ce que tu as fait ce matin?” (What were you doing this morning?)

“Moi, je suis en train de organizer tous les livres dans la biblioteque ici par categoire et puis les mets dans une fiche sur l’ordinateur.” (I’m in the middle of organizing all of the books in the library by category and then putting them into a file on the computer.)

“En quoi?” replied a stunned Sr. Lumiere

“Je les ai organize par categoire.”

Sr. Lumiere erupted into full-out laughter as she told me that the word is “categorie,” not “categoire.” Surprised, I began to wonder exactly why I had “Frenchified” this word.

memory > memoire

Gregory > Gregoire

dormitory > dormitoire

history > histoire

Why was “category” any different?

That evening at dinner, Sr. Lumiere shared my story from lunch, and we all burst out in laughter. I gave my reasoning as to why, truly, this is an exception to the rule. (I do find this pretty absurd and would love to write the Academie Francaise and demand a good reason!)

Now it’s six weeks later. The story has been passed to visiting sisters and new ones to the community. At least a few times a day we will laugh at my silly (but justified!) mistake. We find ourselves throwing the word “categoire” into a sentence just to make it funnier – and indeed, each time we find it hysterical.  Sr. Gisele (petite Gisele) has even been referring to me as “Categoire” more than Laura.  I don’t mind, either, because I think my reasoning makes sense!