This stand-up routine by Paul Taylor is a favorite at My Parrot is Rich. One because he gently pokes fun at the French for how bad their English is, and two because he sort of explains how we got the name for our translation agency.
The name “My Parrot is Rich” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to “My tailor is rich,” another non sequitur that countless French people had to memorize as kids in English class. It’s the first sentence in the Assimil textbook written in 1929. And it’s no better in French classes across the Channel, where English children learn stuff like “La plume de ma tante” (My aunt’s quill). Heck, we could be here all day rattling off all the ludicrous phrases they put in language instruction books around the world. But for the love of Babel, why all the hate?! Don’t language teachers know these sentences scar us for life? It’s no different than “Look, Jane. Look, look. See Dick.” Groan… But come to think of it, we owe a debt of gratitude to the authors of those textbooks. Because these mindless phrases have been the butt of countless jokes in everything from plays and comic books to films. And since we love the wacky, the witty and the weird, we just had to bake it right into our unconventional mix of marketing translators. And there you have it: My Parrot is Rich.
As Caesar would say, “Alea jacta est.” (There’s no turning back now…)