In English, the word "souvenier" has come to mean some cheap trinket you buy from a tourist trap on vacation. Normally, contrary to their purpose, we take them home and quickly throw our souveniers--whether they be snowglobes or dried starfish--into a junk drawer and forget about them until the next yard sale.
Like many words in English, this curiously non-Anglo-Saxon word is derived from the French. The infinitive "souvenir," in the French language translates to the broader notion "to remember." It can also have a much deeper, often nostalgic meaning, such as in its use on license plates in Canada's Province of Quebec: "Je me souviens." (I remember my past.)
I know that many of you remember me most for my very familial "Grandpa Harold Diaries" that I wrote during the election about my Grandparents, Harold and Virginia and their memories of the Great Depression, their struggles with issues of race, and their acceptance and support of Barack Obama.
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