#learn about french

[whoisinterestedbythis]

MASTERLIST :

( Last Update : 13 /12 / 2024 )

France Gall :

Part 1

Part 2

Multilanguage :

Sacrée Charlemagne

Poupée de Cire - Son :

Part 1

Part 2

Il Jouait du Piano debout

**

Michel Berger :

Part 1

Part 2

**

Daniel Balavoine :

Part 1

[meltedmush]

I did a bunch of SVSSS doodles to cope while I was in the 2ha pit 😭

[tangled-pixel-harpsichord]

[kevinsdsy]

bonus (silly tweet for the muslim oomfs):

trojans social media au – the archives (pt. 6): made oomfs one shot a canon event apparently BC LMAOOO how are we still going

[lesbiandarvey]

i love the fact nix makes it a point to pronounce the french location names correctly and then pronounces them with the american acccent for clarity while rolling his eyes to show he’s not one of you uncouth americans. he is so the american who studied abroad for a semester and came back over pronouncing croissants as lay cwehsahn

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Placing my bets now that Undertaker's last name is Rossignol, the French word for nightingale. 

In trying to explain to a friend the plot of black butler via the iceberg meme, I've become so convinced that I've figured out Cedric K. Ros-'s (aka Undertaker's) last name that I've rejoined this site to scream into the void.

At least, I haven't been able to find anything on the English/French speaking internet suggesting this theory has been floated before.

Of course, this is assuming you subscribe to the Cedric K. Ros- = Undertaker = Undertaker x Cloudia affair = Grandtaker pipeline. And, that you think he is of French/Breton origin. 

Dates

Important to note that dates and numbers are important in Black Butler's story, both within the fictional narrative and in connection to real historical events (emphasized with the first arc lining up with the actual 'Jack the Ripper' murders). Some examples of this;

1819 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria (and her cousin-husband Prince Albert) were born. 1819 is also the year in which the name 'Cedric' first appears in the novel 'Ivanhoe'. Within the story, this is also right around the time that reaper 136649 attacks Reaper HQ.

1837 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria ascended the throne. In Black Butler, this is year in which Molly G., the first chronological locket on Undertaker's chain, died. 1837 would also be right around the time that Undertaker is noted as having absconded with his death scythe, officially deserting the organization...20 years after a workplace shooting (he must be union).

Vincent Phantomhive is born on Friday June 13th, 1851. Cloudia Phantomhive dies on Friday July 13th, 1866. She is 36 years old when she dies. If you believe that Undertaker's reaper serial number 136649 means he died in the year 1366 (an interesting time period in Brittany, what with the Breton War of Succession, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death...), this would mean Cloudia dies 500 years after he unalives himself.

Prince Albert dies on December 14th, 1861, in the real world. The Phantomhive twins are born on December 14th, 1875 - the 14th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 24 years old when he becomes a father. The manor is attacked on December 14th, 1885 - the 24th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 34 years old when he dies. There's speculation that the story will end on Friday December 13th, 1889 - the twin's last day of being 13 years old, before they turn 14 years old on December 14th, 1889, the 4th anniversary of the attack on the manor.

TLDR, dates matching up with historical events/publications is not coincidental. Yana pays attention to her numbers.

Now, back to Cedric K. Ros-

I've read speculation that the 'Ros-' must have something to do with roses, since Phantomhives are so often associated with roses (and their thorns). Guess what little bird is very commonly associated with roses? Whose song is often associated with melancholy, longing, and mourning? Who so often seems to unalive themselves on thorns?  

"the nightingale...can also be seen to provide a link to something, opening out onto something beyond the self. Heard but not seen, the nightingale represents an intangible presence; a longing that can be either terribly earthly, in the guise of sexual desire, or soaringly spiritual, as when the nightingale represents the soul, rising above."

Some fun facts about nightingales;

Female nightingales are mute, only male nightingales sing - though historically people thought the opposite, so many of the nightingales in literature are female.

It is one of the only birds that sing throughout the night (name means 'night singer').

In Persian poetry, the nightingale is a symbol of a lover who is "eloquent, passionate, and doomed to love in vain" - the object of their affections is the rose, which "embodies both the perfection of earthly beauty and the arrogance of that perfection."

The oldest appearance of nightingales in literature goes back to the myth of Philomela, who was turned into a nightingale by the Gods.

In Shakespeare's poem 'Lucrece', the titular character is inspired to commit suicide when a nightingale leans their breast against a thorn to inspire a song and ward off sleep.

The nightingale also makes an appearance in Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet', when Juliet mistakes the song of a lark for that of a nightingale.

I have read a ridiculous amount of poetry about nightingales recently (there is a lot of it), but I'm going to focus on one Breton piece from the middle ages and two English pieces from the 19th century because they have the most relevant dates (which as previously mentioned, are important).

Laüstic

There is the Breton lai 'Laüstic', composed in the late 12th century by Marie de France (Laüstic' is the Breton word for rossignol/nightingale). Breton lais are a form of medieval French romance literature that often involve supernatural and fairy-world Celtic elements.

"In most of Marie de France’s Lais, love is associated with suffering, and over half of them involve an adulterous relationship... In Marie's Lais, "love always involves suffering and frequently ends in grief, even when the love itself is approved."" 

The lais of Marie de France explore courtly love, a popular theme in medieval literature that began with Troubadour poetry in southern France in the 11th century.

"The courtly lover existed to serve his lady. His love was invariably adulterous, marriage at that time being usually the result of business interest or the seal of a power alliance. Ultimately, the lover saw himself as serving the all-powerful god of love and worshipping his lady-saint. Faithlessness was the mortal sin...The courtly lover, while displaying the same outward signs of passion, was fired by respect for his lady."

Basically, courtly love emphasized the importance of a man's respect and devotion to their lover, and I don't think anyone could doubt Undertaker's devotion to his cause.

Sidenote: I think the French story 'Floire et Blancheflor', one of the oldest and most popular romances of the middle ages, is also incredibly relevant to Undertaker & Cloudia's love story. It also explores this concept of 'courtly love' (involving a fake tomb, a prince disguised as a merchant, and an attempted suicide, no less)...and the flowers associated with the lovers are red roses and white lilies... You can read part one of my theory on Floire et Blancheflor here.

A plot summary of 'Laustic' from Wikipedia: 

Two knights live in adjoining houses, in the vicinity of Saint-Malo in Brittany; one is married and one lives as a bachelor. The wife of the married knight enters into a secret relationship with the other knight, but their contact is limited to conversation and the exchange of small gifts, since a "high wall made of dark stone" separates the two households. Typically, the lady rises at night, once her husband is asleep, and goes to the window to converse with her lover; whenever her lover is home, she is kept under close watch.  Her suspicious husband demands to know why she spends her nights at the window, and she says she does so to listen to the nightingale sing. He mocks her, and orders his servants to capture the nightingale. When it is caught he brings it to the lady's chambers, denying her requests to release the bird. Instead, he breaks its neck and throws it at her, "bloodying the front of her tunic just a bit above her breasts". After he leaves, the lady mourns the bird's death and the suffering she must accept, knowing she can no longer be at the window at night. She wraps the nightingale's body in silk, and embroidered with writing in gold thread, and charges her servant to deliver the bird and her message to her lover, who, in response, preserves the nightingale in a reliquary, a small vessel which he has encased with small jewels and precious stones, and carries it with him always. 

From the Wikipedia on reliquaries;

"A reliquary (also referred to as a shrine, by the French term châsse, and historically also referred to as a phylactery) is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a fereter, and a chapel in which it is housed a feretory or feretery."    "Relics may be the purported or actual physical remains of saints...The term is sometimes used loosely for containers for the body parts of non-religious figures; in particular, the kings of France often specified that their hearts and sometimes other organs be buried in a different location from their main burial."    "In Buddhism, stupas are an important form of a reliquary and may be buried inside larger structures such as a stupa or chorten." 

Interesting, because the wooden grave markers Undertaker carries/uses to conceal his death scythe are considered to be a variant of stupa (as far as I can tell). The grave markers are sotoba inscribed with sutra - also interesting to note that in Japan, nightingales are considered a religious bird because "its song is reminiscent of the intonation of a Buddhist sutra", which in turn ties into the Buddhist prayer beads he wears around his neck.

The concept of reliquaries is somewhat similar to that of mourning lockets, especially if you consider that in the context of courtly love Undertaker was whipped likely worshipped the ground Cloudia walked on and would have treated her like a saint (good for her).

"Reliquaries are decorative vessels, often in the form of a hand, cranium, or other body part that contain the fragment of a saint or someone of holy importance. Some fragments could include remnants of a garment worn by the individual or even a piece of bone that was part of their body."

A famous reliquary is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, commissioned in late 14th century France by John, Duke of Berry (this dude has relevance to Brittany and the Hundred Years War) to house a relic of the crown of thorns.

"The jewels, which would have been keenly appreciated by contemporary viewers, include two large sapphires, one above God the Father at the very top of the reliquary, where it may have represented heaven, and the other below Christ, on which the thorn is mounted."

Sapphires and a crown of thorns are not new symbols in this story - imma leave it at that because I'm getting off topic and this is already ridiculously long.

The Nightingale and The Rose

The short story The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde (snake's snakes) was published in the book of bedtime stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales in May 1888 (which lines up pretty closely with when the first chapter of the manga takes place). This is a bleak tale about the selfless and sacrificial nature of true love.

But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. ‘Press closer, little Nightingale,’ cried the Tree, ‘or the Day will come before the rose is finished.   So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.  And the marvelous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.  But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.  Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.  'Look, look!' cried the Tree, 'the rose is finished now;' but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.  

The emphasis on the nightingale's song also brought to mind the Mother 3 theory and the importance of the music in that game - and the idea that the last names of Undertaker's lockets make a chord progression. IDK that much about Mother 3, so I can't say if there are any other further parallels to draw.

Also who would read this to a child as a bedtime story???

Undertaker. Undertaker would totally read this to Ciel as a bedtime story, who am I kidding.

An Ode to a Nightingale

Finally, there is the poem "An Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats (another one of snake's snakes). 

There is a clear theme of death in this poem, and of life after death/immortality. There is also a sense of longing for death, of the relief death brings - very relevant for all reapers.

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: 'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness,— That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

The first stanza mentions 'Lethe', which is one of five rivers in the Greek underworld. "The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated."

Afaik the only reaper to reference their previous life is Sascha, and there weren't many specifics. This could just be because speaking of their human life is painful, given they all made the choice to end it...Or is it possible HQ alters their memories?

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

The reference to Provencal song is once again a reference to the concept of courtly love (seen in Laustic) that began with Troubadour poetry in Provence, France in the 11th century.

Already with thee! tender is the night,   And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,  Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;  But here there is no light,  Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown  Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways. 

Stars and heaven reference (Astre/Sirius & Ciel), and a reference to the moon as in the Oscar Wilde story... The Queen Moon, on her throne...

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,  Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,  But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet  Wherewith the seasonable month endows  The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;  White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;  Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;  And mid-May's eldest child,  The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,  The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 

A reference to May (we will come back to this), to musk-roses (symbolizes 'capricious beauty'), and to 'the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves'. As previously mentioned, Cloudia dies in July...

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time  I have been half in love with easeful Death,  Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,  To take into the air my quiet breath;  Now more than ever seems it rich to die,  To cease upon the midnight with no pain,  While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad  In such an ecstasy!  Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—  To thy high requiem become a sod. 

The suicidal ideation is strong here.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Immortality. The last few lines immediately brought to mind the theory that Undertaker drowned himself.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

The last stanza has the poet bidding 'Adieu' - the French word for goodbye forever which translates literally as 'until God'. Gotta love how dramatic the French are.

From Wikipedia: 

"The nightingale described experiences a type of death but does not actually die. Instead, the songbird is capable of living through its song, which is a fate that humans cannot expect. The poem ends with an acceptance that pleasure cannot last and that death is an inevitable part of life." 

And here's the thing...Keats composed this poem in one day after a nightingale built its nest near his home. Specifically, he wrote it in one day of May, 1819 - the same month and year in which Queen Victoria was born. 

The rest might be me just grasping at straws but the connection to Queen Victoria's birth is what I find most convincing, since Yana has seemingly already sourced Cedric's first name from literature in 1819. I think the setting/plot of the novel 'Ivanhoe' and her name choice of 'Cedric' reveals a lot about Undertaker's past and his motivations, and I think the same could hold true for his last name. I am convinced his name is Cedric K. Rossignol.

God only knows what the 'K.' stands for.

Thanks for reading! My ask box is open and I'm always happy to talk about this stuff. You can find a masterpost of my Black Butler theories here - they mostly revolve around medieval French/Breton literature, French history and French Christianity.

[shyravenns]

Sorry, but I'm stuck thinking about how long it must have taken Price to become semi fluent in Russian, and how hard it must have been for him to hide his progress from Nik 😭

[deadpoets]

JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT as CAMERON JAMES 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) dir. Gil Junger

[ayatheav]

you ever think about wriothesley and neuvillette. like not even in a necessarily romantic way. in a "i trust the justice system but fought hard to put the man boy i condemned in the position in power in the place outside my jurisdiction because he's so good" way. in a "the person who trusts me now saw me at my worst, recognised that, does not hold it against me" way. in a "i couldn't help you but you forgave me" way. neuvillette seeing how the system can hurt people further, but not destroy them. there's always hope in humanity. wriothesley being kicked down all his life, finally being fought for by no other than the powerful man who decided his fate, yes, but who would not let it define him. "congratulations, i see you finally found something you wish to do". im fine this is fine its cool

[whoisinterestedbythis]

France Gall Part 1

Isabelle Gall (France Gall is her stage name) is a French cult singer born in 1947 in Paris. Her musical career began at the age of 16 in the 1960s, making her an artist of the “Yéyé” era (= representative idol of French adolescents of the 1960s).

her first successes between 1964 and 1966 were naive songs, almost children's songs :

The whole world will discover her by her participation in Eurovision in 1965 with the song " Poupée de cire poupée de son "

( She won the competition but lost in the same night , her first boyfriend the singer Claude François , who was jealous of her success and who will leave her coldly by a phone call )

the song will be a worldwide hit ! With alternative versions :

In Japanese :

In German :

And in Italian :

Other international artists will also cover the song in Arabic, Spanish Chinese , Czech , Danish , Estonian , Finnish , Dutch , Hungarian , Hebrew, Korean , Portuguese , Russian , Slovack, Swedish , Vietnamese and English …

( If you are interested in discovering these versions do not hesitate to consult my Masterlist )

France Gall will appear in the legendary “Photo of the Century” (which brings together the greatest french artists of the time )

(top left of the image with a pink jacket)

In 1966 her song “Les Sucettes” caused controversy.

The composer Serge Gainsbourg had fun having this song (with its particularly salacious double meaning) performed by the 18-year-old girl who was in no way aware of the true meaning of the song.

This scandal will put a big damper on her career, she still sings but no longer interests the public. Everything could have stopped if she hadn't met a man named Michel Berger…

[bloggingboutburgers]

Opinions on US elections? What could this mean for the relationship with Car?

...Wish I could give a proper answer to this but I'm not sure what you mean by "Car"?

EDIT: OH RIGHT THAT'S HOW I NAMED MY PARTNER PUBLICLY HERE ONCE AND I FORGOT I'M A DUMBASS (I used false names for that comic project about our story, so as not to reveal overly personal details TwT Sorry I didn't even keep up with my own stuff TwT)

...OK so... For me personally it doesn't change anything to my plans. The main reason I want to marry them is because in 2020 Trump called a travel ban on people from my country to the US, and the democrats didn't get us out of that one either for a year after that. I think most people forgot anyway. I've lived in fear of such a travel ban coming back ever since because it was horrible to bear with, so now that the guy who put up the travel ban on my country is back, if anything, I'm more determined than ever to marry them and join them over there, so we can be reunited and protected against any such form of separation before he fucks up any chances for that again.

That said... That's one very specific part of the picture and I have yet to discuss it with THEM properly yet. So I don't wanna project my own choices on them. I don't wanna get them stuck in a situation they'd rather not be in. So we'll see I guess. But as far as I'm concerned I'm still down to head to that dumpster fire anyway and face it with them if it must be so. To be honest, even if I stick to my position in France, the US has an art of making what happens in their country everyone's business, with consequences all over the world, and I'm expecting it to be even more the case with him, so I don't think other countries will be particularly safe either.

[adelphenium]

your coloring is so beautiful I don’t even know how to explain it like your understanding of light and anatomy makes me want to sob because it’s just so pretty 😭😭 I’m not sure if you take rqs or not but if you do would you be willing to draw Angry Greaseball Brad Marchand & Perfect Angel Patrice Bergeron / flower? anyway I just wanted to tell you how amazing your art is 🫶🫶🫶

dearest sweet anon.

this request intrigued me so much that i got carried away and ended up making a whole comic based entirely off of this legendary post by @cats0p and @ghostgeno .......

thank you for the req and your kind words :,)!!!!

[oksurethisismyname]

In continuance of my “zoro learns French” drabble:

Sanji has been busy ever since breakfast. Normally he has time to prep a lot more for lunch but today? It’s like everyone is asking him for something. Chopper had gum stuck in his fur (turns out it was a spit ball from luffy) , Franky asked for help tailoring a pair of pants (finally!), Nami kept asking him questions about different dessert possibilities from tangerines, Robin was wondering about the origin of every variety of tea he has on board, and he just hadn’t had time to get back into the galley.

Finally, it’s an hour till lunch and he tactfully exits the conversation with Robin. As he walks up to the galley door he hears someone messing around in HIS galley. He kicks in the door, ready to find Luffy with his head stuck in the fridge but is stopped dead in his tracks. There, in his kitchen, is Zoro.

Zoro in his apron.

Zoro in his apron that says “kiss the cook”

Zoro in his apron that says “kiss the cook,” flour on his face, scrubbing some dishes that weren’t dirty when Sanji left this kitchen this morning, and a sheepish look on his face that doesn’t look quite natural on him. Almost cute? No. Yes? A little.

“Mosshead, you have 5 seconds to explain what you’re doing to my kitchen before I kick you into the ocean. The only reason you’re still standing there is because it looks like you’re cleaning up whatever mess you made.”

Zoro sets a newly clean skillet on the drying rack, suddenly getting a look of determination, “I made you a croak miser.”

“What the fuck is a croak miser?”

Zoro huffs like he’s both exasperated by his own actions and Sanjis lack of understanding. Rather than clarifying what a “croak miser” is, Zoro walks to the oven and pulls out a little plate. He’s blocking Sanjis view but whatever he just pulled out must have been in the oven just to stay warm because the oven isn’t even on.

Without showing what’s in his hand, Zoro gruffly asks “sit?”

This is getting weird. Sanji, shocked into obedience, sits at the table waiting to see where this is going.

In Zoros hands is a plate with a passable Croque Monsieur. Is that actually béchamel sauce? Wait did Zoro MAKE béchamel from scratch? There’s not too much or too little ham, the cheese looks gooey, wow, this could be good.

As Zoro sets the plate in front of him, a bit of pink creeping into his cheeks. “You were talking about the best comfort foods with Robin last week and I just thought… well you do a lot and… whatever eat the shitty sandwhich, asshole. Bone apple teeth or whatever.”

With that, Zoro turns on his heals and walks out.

What the fuck was that all about?

[linguafrencha]

Hi! I want to learn French and Russian. Could you share your favourite resources for beginners? Could you also include books and movies/TV shows recommendations for both languages in your post? Thank you.

That's really cool that you want to learn those languages!!!

I have a bunch of Russian resources that I used because I started out as solely self-learning. So a large part in my absolute beginner phase I spent listening to podcasts, specifically, these: understanding spoken Russian which is great for just getting a feel for the language while also learning a bit of grammar and this one for getting grammar and vocab explained in a very down to earth kind of way without any types of big words you need to know.

Besides these I essentially learned all the Russian grammar I know on Youtube. Especially from this channel. Daria is very cool and also has several podcasts under the same name.

This one has helped me with specific questions about little grammar things, so might also be useful.

Nastya has this year begun doing a Learn Russian in a Year thing where she uploads every day a thirty minute lesson. It's a bit slow for me personally having already learned a lot and just generally me being impatient but it can definitely help with vocab.

He also has good videos and also some free stuff on his website iirc.

For TV shows I unfortunately can't recommend a lot for beginners. What you can do though is watch episodes like Peppa the Pig on Youtube in English and in Russian/French to compare and learn or only in your TL as they're obviously at a low level. What I do highly recommend as a show though is слуга народу for Russian and Lupin for French.

Also, if you're into audiobooks, try typing children audiobooks into Youtube or try listening to the Russian/French version of Harry Potter (that's what I'm doing rn actually).

If you're looking for a book and willing to spend some money I recommend this book with Russian short fiction for beginners. I just finished it and I thought it was very fun with vocab lists and questions for the stories at the end. The same author has also books for higher levels.

Unfortunately, as I learned almost all of French in classes I only have one channel I actually use to recommend, which is this one. You'll find some of my posts where I used this channel as my source.

I hope this helps! I might update in future when I find more. Good luck with your language learning journey!!

[greasy-night-rat]

Welcome to the start of a series I call:

"Portraits of the WVBA Boys looking deranged/pissed off"

Starting with Joe! I hc that he's more of a quite rage kinda person. Like passive aggressive and snippy comments/tone. Kinda guy to just stare at you directly if he thinks you're doing something really stupid and/or rude, but not tell you what it is you did wrong because "you know what you're doing". Very rarely actually confronts anyone.

Only really expresses the snippy side of himself around people he knows. So the minor circuit members are very well acquainted with "Snippy Bitch Joe", while the other circuit members have only seen him act that way on rare occasion if at all.