faux pas/faut pas.

i just wrote back my father in-law -- who asked me where i am spending christmas, on the boat or back to the US -- that i'm indeed spending christmas on the boat as to save money for boat projects and that i'm looking forward to reading (a thomas bernhard book, i said) and writing

if he were to ask which thomas bernhard book i am reading, i would have to admit that i am reading holzfällen

and if he knew anything about holzfällen he would immediately think of our situation:

how i snubbed the whole family by calling them narcissistic trend-chasing assholes with no culture or taste

tbh i do think of his family as i read this book but i am not trying to snub them again

i am just trying to demonstrate that i am showing an interest in their language-culture (but have mysteriously read little to no swiss-german literature and have instead enjoyed austrian authors; kafka, zweig, bernhard -- i think the austrians might have a slightly more developed sense of humor. the damn swiss can't take a joke.)

---

speaking of no culture or taste
i regret that my mother has no culture either