During the scene at Hap's in FWWM, an old man suddenly interrupts Desmond and Stanley to ask whether they're talking about Teresa Banks. The exchange goes as follows:
Old man: "Are you talking about that little girl that got murdered?"
Desmond: "You have something to tell us?"
Old man: "Yeah. I can tell shit from shinolah."
At that point, the young woman says something, barely audible. Can anyone make out what she says?
She says something like "I'm afraid of the night."
J'ai peur de la nuit
Why is she afraid of the night? Lodge interaction in Deer Meadow, maybe?
"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this." -Dale Cooper
Is this your surprise Saturday entry, Sourdust?No that's still on hold. I have one final exam on Monday.
doesnt she say something else after the man asks "are you talking about that little girl that got murdered" a second time? and does it strike anyone else as odd that his expression is "i know shit from shinola" which isnt really the colloqualism commonly used. usually its "i cant tell shit from shinola" meaning one doesnt know the answer. but he affirms that he does know something by taking out the negative in the sentence and making it a positive. more likely its just another artistic touch that 16 years later people like me will be asking about on a message board. :) but if anyone has an interpetation, id like to hear it!
Why is she afraid of the night?
Is it just me or does she look like a doppelganger of Jones, Eckhardt's assistant?
Damn, even the Shinola man can pull some leg.
I was also surprised how the Feds didn't feel the need to question them about Teresa Banks any further.
"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this." -Dale Cooper
does it strike anyone else as odd that his expression is "i know shit from shinola" which isnt really the colloqualism commonly used. usually its "i cant tell shit from shinola" meaning one doesnt know the answer.
Old dude at Hap's = Pete (Folksy, sentimental old man in plaid)
Young woman at Hap's = Josie (reasonably attractive foreign chick who pals around with folksy, sentimental old man in plaid)
She says something like "I'm afraid of the night."
J'ai peur de la nuit
I'm not convinced that is what she is saying. I tried the closed captioning on the MK2 French disc figuring that they would be able to capture it but it seems even they didn't capture it right. This is what they claim it is:
n'ennuie pas le monsieur
The first word seems right (at least it sounds right but is it even a word?) but not the rest. I decided to ask a friend of mine who speaks fluent French to check it out. I also put the clip up for her on Youtube in case she or anyone here wants to take a shot.
http://www.youtube.com/v/dUZb8Ow7fLw
-B
Thanks, dugpa.
La nuit is very clear. "The night" something... honestly I'd never heard it that clearly before, or bothered to listen closely. The last word is either maman (mother), moment (moment or minute) or a moi (to me, with an accent grave on the "a") My conjugation is bad, but I hear either porte (carries) or est pour (is for).
La nuit est pour maman (The night is for mother) ? Or possibly: La nuit porte un moment? The night takes a moment? Or: La nuit le porte a moi (the night carries it to me) ?
What the hell does that mean? Aren't there any frogs on this board? I took 9 years of French and aced my finals, but none of it really stuck.
Very interesting. My friend said she would check it out tomorrow. I played with the EQ and raised the volume of that line just to try and figure out what she was saying...
-B
I hope your friend can. This is really bugging me now! 
La nuit a peur a moi is what I thought I originally heard, but that translates to "The night is afraid to me."
Maybe DL meant hear to say "The night scares/frightens me" or "the night is scary" but it came out closer to "the night has fear." ( J'ai peur means 'I'm afraid' in French, but translates directly to "I have fear" in English in the same way the above phrase translates as "the night has fear" or "the night is afraid." )
End of French lesson for the night, folks! I'm off to bed to have nightmares about this line...
Thanks for putting that up Dugpa. I think "la nuit" and "moment" are definitely in there.
OR, it's something like "n' ennui [pas?] le pauvre homme" (don't bother that poor man), but I can't hear the word "pas" in there.
Question remains: why is she talking French?
I've always thought of the Old Guy at Hap's as a sort of parody on the Log Lady.
doesnt she say something else after the man asks "are you talking about that little girl that got murdered" a second time? and does it strike anyone else as odd that his expression is "i know shit from shinola" which isnt really the colloqualism commonly used. usually its "i cant tell shit from shinola" meaning one doesnt know the answer. but he affirms that he does know something by taking out the negative in the sentence and making it a positive. more likely its just another artistic touch that 16 years later people like me will be asking about on a message board. :) but if anyone has an interpetation, id like to hear it!
Hmmm, how are people hearing "monsieur" or "momente"? I hear only something like "N'ennuie pas" where the pas is elongated a bit.
As in she's saying "Don't bother them."
That wouldn't be a complete phrase, though.
What about: Ennui pas pour un moment? (Don't bother them for a moment)
(The syllables roll together, like this, ennuipas'pourunmom'ent)
Re: why she is speaking French.
I always thought that since the town was supposed to be sort of "stuck in the 50's," is how one critic put it, this could be meant to invoke the image of an American war veteran and a prostitute from overseas. He has aged, but she hasn't- much in the same way the town of Twin Peaks has aged, but hasn't really. (I always felt like Maurice from Northern Exposure was a composite of the man at Hap's and Ben Horne.)
La nuit est une bon moment.
That wouldn't be a complete phrase, though.
What about: Ennui pas pour un moment? (Don't bother them for a moment)
(The syllables roll together, like this, ennuipas'pourunmom'ent)
Sure it would be. It's like "Don't annoy." There isn't a subject in that sentence because the subject "you" is understood.
Again, I'm not sure where people are hearing anything beyond one or two words. Where are you hearing anything like "moment" or "monsieur"? It's just too many syllables.
Maybe they are picking up "monsieur" based on the French Closed Captioning I posted. I couldn't hear the word moment, but now I am sort of hearing it. Sounds almost like "momo" versus moment, but maybe it is the pronunciation.
-B
the "ent" sounds like a nazalized "ah".
Let's assume it's an imperative conjugated for the informal "tu"
N'ennuies pas pour un moment (non-WEE-pah poor_uhn mo-ma) - the syllable for "un" is swallowed.)
That would be "Don't annoy (them) for a moment."
I'm looking closely at her mouth and can't tell if she could be saying Ne l'ennuies pas pour un moment , which would be grammatically correct... I think... with 'them' as the subject, again, it's hard to make the syllables out clearly.
The obsession living inside this thread is palpable.
I had 5 years of Spanish, otherwise I would help.
"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this." -Dale Cooper
As for why she's French, I stand by her being Deer Meadow's version of Josie. I firmly believe in the Deer Meadow = "Bad" Twin Peaks theory.
Teresa = Laura Irene = Norma Fat Trout Trailer Park = The Great Northern Carl = Ben Horne Cable, Cliff, and the Secretary = Harry, Andy, and Lucy Old Man = Pete Young Woman = Josie Creepy Woman at Fat Trout = Log Lady
I'm probably missing more parallels, but they're there. As someone in another thread points out, Teresa is an unknown with no friends or family and she dies in squalor and obscurity with no one to claim her body. Laura literally had people fighting over who got to claim her body and died as the town's sweetheart.
Deer Meadow is rundown and dilapidated-- Fat Trout and Hap's are crapholes, and in Sam's assessment of the cost of the Deer Meadow PD, we get the idea that it's a cheap operation as well.
Cable is dismissive of the FBI and turns their presence into a pissing contest, whereas Harry was wholly receptive to Cooper off the bat.
Doting Lucy always made sure there was plenty of coffee and donuts availible; the Deer Meadow secretary lets coffee get two days old.
Andy was lovable and innocent; Cliff is hateful and corrupt.
Pete was worldly wise and charmingly folksy. The old man is apparently senile.
Ben Horne was suave, well dressed, and cooly ruthless. Carl is foul-mouthed and trots around in his robe and comes across like an impotent hick.
The Log Lady appeared to offer helpful, albeit esoteric, information. The creepy woman says nothing and just freaks everyone out.
With all of these other parallels, it seems like a simple conclusion that the French girl with the old man would be Josie.
does it strike anyone else as odd that his expression is "i know shit from shinola" which isnt really the colloqualism commonly used. usually its "i cant tell shit from shinola" meaning one doesnt know the answer.
im not following how you mean the colloquialism isnt complete. listening to the scene with headphones, to me, he clearly says "i know shit from shinola". and i meant it as you are defining it. if you nerd out on what he actually says in relation to what is normally said and meant, he is saying that yes, he does know something. sure he says the colloqualism in an untraditional way, but this is deer meadow, everythings a little off here. he also says it with a look of "go ahead, ask me" experssion. i enjoy the comparasion with pete. it just fits. sorry i cant help out on the french, i can barely understand it, much less speak it or know etimologies. and coolspringsj: personally im not a fan anymore, but if youve ever watched seinfeld theres a few epsidoes where Jones plays sue ellen miski or something like that, the heiress to the o'herny forture. the reason im telling you this is that most of her plots revolved around the fact that she didnt wear a bra. or if she did, that was all she wore. thats all i remember as im going on memories from my teenage years after school tv watching. enjoy!