Originally Posted by
Kerry K.
I found this unattributed quote years ago and liked it so much it's now taped to my computer monitor stand: "The lingua franca in these parts is Romanian mixed with blood and cash". It evokes a scene from a Kirk Douglas film in which he's forced into hand-to-hand combat with a Romanian villager for the hand - or perhaps the honor - of a young maiden while everyone else looks on as if it's just part of daily life there. And it probably was.
Going deeply off-topic here, apologies, but I'm a bit of a movie buff so this sparked my curiosity. The whole wide web has one measly reference in store for this quote, and it's to a grammar handbook titled
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire*. A grammar handbook! I also took a look at Kirk Douglas' filmography but at least at first glance, no movie came up in which Kirk roams the Romanian countryside and gets into fights with villagers (he did direct a Western shot in Yugoslavia though!). But then it occurred to me thatyou may not have a specific movie in mind but just a vivid analogy:
in my mind this plays out like a scene from a 50ies movie with Kirk Douglas? In which case I could shut down the part of my brain that's wondering "what movie is he talking about???"
* makes sense: vampire, Romania + blood