Salé

adj. – salty
Sucré
adj. – sweet
The other night we went to the movies, my first time since moving to Paris. I decided to treat myself to popcorn, another thing I haven’t had much of since moving here. The woman asked me if I wanted it “salé,” salty or “sucré,” sweet to which my husband responded affirmatively, “sucré.” I assumed this meant that there wasn’t extra salt on the popcorn vs. actually sweet popcorn. So I tried to clarify with both my husband and the lady and discovered that in fact it really did mean sweet.

I still didn’t understand, sweet like caramel corn sweet or just popcorn with sugar on it instead of salt? I told her I would rather have the salty to which she defensively responded that I had asked for sweet. Indeed I had, but that was before I actually understood that it was really sweet. I can understand her confusion. She was even willing to let me try some of the sweet, which I declined. I would imagine that she would have no problem re-selling the container from which I plucked a sweet kernel where in the U.S. it would have been discarded immediately.

Well having that sorted out, we proceeded into the theatre. I think it was the first time in my life when I’ve actually been the first person in. It was massive and empty. The long weekend and lovely weather had kept the crowds away. So my husband, friend and I chose our seats smack dab in the center. A few more people trickled in and what I found so amusing is that they proceeded to sit right next to us. They didn’t even allow one courtesy seat’s difference. Here we were, albeit in the middle, of a theatre that could hold hundreds and yet, directly on either side of us the few people sat. I chalk it up to the Latin culture and the way they view personal space. They like as little as possible where we prefer to keep our distance a bit more. Or perhaps it was because despite our salty popcorn, there was just something sweet about us.