We’ve done it — we’ve made it to #1000.
The first post on OffQc is dated December 2010, almost five years ago. When I began, I had no idea this blog would someday get to #1000 — a few hundred posts at most, I thought — but here we are.
And we’re a big group too. OffQc is visited every day by people around the world.
A few interesting things about who we lovers of French and diehard fans of all things québécois are:
The top five visiting countries are Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France and Brazil. If Latin America were a single country, it would’ve been among the top ones as well.
The top two visiting cities are Montréal and Toronto.
The top five languages spoken natively by visitors are English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic.
A few things about the blog itself:
OffQc averages one new post about every day and a half. (I don’t let you slack off.)
New posts have been added every month since I began, with just one exception: October 2012, when I was hit by a car in Napoli that crushed my ankle and foot.
The first post on this blog was about the Québécois expression c’est correct, meaning it’s fine, it’s okay.
The OffQc books have sold on all continents except one. (Come on, Antarctica.)
When I look back at older posts on OffQc, I’m grateful anybody stuck around at all. Many of them aren’t written the way I’d write them today, which in itself is encouraging — it’s a reminder that we should just begin.
The same goes for French.
You don’t need perfect grammar before you start speaking French, nor do you need the perfect accent. You don’t need to know all the words, and it’s okay if you’re still trying to figure out the subjunctive. Jump in, make a mess of it, brush yourself off, then do it again. You’ll find your way.
To all of you who take time out of your busy day to read OffQc, or to comment, or to share or like or tweet, or to buy and read the OffQc books — thank you.
If you’re wondering if I’ll continue writing now that we’ve reached #1000, what can I say but mets-en? I hope you’ll stick around for the next 1000.
