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The devil comes clean

My sister, who speaks a little French, came to stay with me in France. I had to go out but was waiting for a plumber to turn up to fix my washing machine, so I left her in charge of explaining the problem.

She was supposed to have learned by heart the sentence: C'est la machine qui est dans la buanderie qui est en panne - 'It's the machine in the laundry that's broken down' - but she forgot it and ended up saying: Le malin est dans la machine dans la buanderie. The plumber called me later to say that he couldn't find the devil in the machine!!

Editor's note: Le malin isn't widely used in French to refer to the devil - you're more likely to hear le diable.

Sent by: Ella

Comments

Luna D., England 2011-07-11

'The devil is in the machine in the laundry.' Your sister must have been surprised!

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Ian 2006-07-20

She could have just pointed. Style is good but getting the message across is the main thing!

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