Reflexivity

One of the few non-political blogs that I have in my RSS Reader is Sometimes Funny Is All I Have. This is primarily because I once met and got very drunk with Leonie and several other not-so-political bloggers (Katy Newton, Boy On Top and Mr Angry amongst them). At least, I think it was her: I had been shoving alcohol down my face since lunchtime, and by the time that I emptied that South Bank bar of the ingredients for their passionfruit margharita (and moved onto something with raspberries in), my memory was becoming a little blurry.

In any case, I have continued to read Leonie, merely because she writes beautifully and she makes me laugh (especially with this review post); she tends to a neat line in bathos, building up a serious or emotive point into an amusingly silly post. I have been meaning to point people her way for a while and so I am happy to highlight this post, especially as I hadn't thought about the reflexivity of this French phrase.

In French the verb meaning "to miss" is a reflexive one. Instead of directly saying "I miss you", it translates as "you are missing from me" - "tu me manques". I have often thought how much more appropriate this seems. Missing someone is not an active state, but rather a lack, a continuous non-presence that triggers a sometimes near-physical emotional response.
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I am slowly getting over the disappointment and the urge to fill the void in my life by rushing up to strangers, shaking them by the shoulders and screaming "LOVE ME, LOVE ME!" into their terrified faces, before collapsing at their feet whimpering incoherently.

Do go and have a wee read of the whole thing...