This morning during my workout at the Y I responded to something my trainer said with “claro que si !” This happens frequently and is quite unconscious; I can never predict when or where I might insert some stock French or Spanish phrase into conversations with people who I know don’t speak either of those languages. What the heck is that all about?

Today’s example at the gym left me wondering if I shouldn’t dig up some of the second-language acquisition studies we looked at when I was getting my ESL degree. I found the stuff about growing up bilingual particularly fascinating, and even though I learned both of my second languages after the so-called “age of plasticity” (puberty or so, when the brain starts losing its ability to just absorb stuff without any effort) there might be some insights there into my somewhat puzzling spontaneous utterances.

On the other hand, maybe I’ll just chalk it up to a harmless eccentricity, and move on to something else.