French Word of the Day October 2002

Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 8:09 AM

As winter is coming upon us, some hearty meals to keep us warm after a long day on the slopes:

· Fondue Savoyarde: from Savoie as the name implies. Everyone dips small pieces of bread in a pot filled with a mix of melting cheeses

· Fondue Bourguignonne: this time, it's beef that's dipped in hot oil

· Raclette: each guest melts his own piece of cheese. The traditional way to do this is to cut a big, round cheese in two and place it under a hot lamp. Every now and then, scrape (racler = to scrape) the melted cheese and serve it.

· Pierrade: a heated stone is placed on the table, where everyone can cook his own thin slices of meat

· Tartiflette: layers of reblochon cheese, potatoes, cream, onions and bacon cooked in the oven

Add side dishes, a good bottle of white wine and a bunch of friends, you're ready to go.

Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 5:28 PM

A few acronyms today:
CRS: Compagnie Republicaine de Securité. Like cops, only meaner and trained to hit people with sticks. The kind they send to control rallies and soccer games. The kind you don't want to mess around with.

SNCF: Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer. The one and only railroad company (public)

EDF: Electricité de France. The one and only electricity company (public, too...)

Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 7:48 AM

(une) cuiller or cuillère (ku - ee - yer)= spoon

(un) dos = back (of a person usually)

An expression that I didn't know and was apparently born recently on the streets of Paris: "être sur le dos de la cuiller". Basically, to be standing on the back of a spoon, so that wherever you go, you can do nothing but go downhill. I.e. be in a tough situation with no way out.

Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 10:01 AM

It's been a while since we studied soccer vocabulary, but Paris' historic 3-0 victory against archrivals Marseille is the perfect opportunity :)

(une) victoire (vik - twa - re): victory

(une) défaite (dey - fay -te): defeat

Marquer (mar - key): to score

(un) but: goal

(un) doublé: (doo - bley): fact of scoring 2 goals in one game (like PSG's Brazilian wonder Ronaldinho this week-end…)

(un) coup du chapeau: hat-trick (litteral translation here)

Here again, lots of English words (penalty, corner,…) that the Ministry of Culture unsuccessfully tried to adapt a few years ago, but the new "frenchified" words never caught on.

Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 8:25 AM

First, after further investigation, it looks like "frêleté" used to be the noun associated with "frêle", but the duo was replaced by fragile / fragilité. Although frêle somehow survived, frêleté didn't. Isn't it fascinating…

Avoir peur = to be scared (e.g. j'ai peur)

Which brings me to the musical recommendation of the day: Thievery Corportation - Le Monde, nice, borderline-depressing, trip-hoppy song in French, lyrics are pretty easy to understand.

Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 6:56 PM

First, a little correction. "Comparaison" usually translates to "comparison", but when it refers to the figure of speech, it translates to "simile". I stand corrected one more time :-)

"S'appeler reviens", as in "Mon stylo s'appelle reviens". Nice way to tell someone that we're lending him something but really expect it back.

Revenir = to come back. Reviens is the imperative form.

Stylo = pen

Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 9:44 AM

(le) chiasme = chiasmus (!)

Refers to sentences with rhymes or repeating words that follow the pattern: A-B-B-A. Like in last Thursday's quote. Since I don't think anyone ever used that word in real life, a couple more:

(la) métaphore = metaphor

(la) comparaison = comparison

And the quizz of the day: if anyone knows the noun associated to the adjective "frêle" (frail), I'm interested. I have no clue (frêleur? frêlitude?...)

Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 10:26 AM

And the last coordinating conjunctions are:

Et = and

Or = and yet. Marks opposition, sometimes juxtaposition

Ni / ni … ni = neither / neither … nor

E.g.: Il dit qu'il était au cinéma, or personne ne l'a vu: he says he was at the movie theater, and yet nobody saw him.

Il n'est ni beau ni laid: he's neither handsome nor ugly

To summarize, the list of conjunctions is "mais-ou-et-donc-or-ni-car", which sounds like "Mais où est donc Ornicar?" and almost makes sense if you pretend Ornicar is a person. That's how young kids are tought to remember those…and it works, apparently...

Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 9:08 AM

· Car = because (also means bus)

Some of the other coordinating conjunctions ("conjonctions de coordinations") are

· Mais = but

· Ou = or (not to be confused with où = where)

· Donc = therefore, so (Je pense donc je suis, I think therefore I am). Can also be used to reinforce a statement.

E.g.: "Mais où est-il donc ?" = "But where on earth is he?"

Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 7:55 AM

Prendre = to take

"Prendre du recul" (re - kule) = to stand back, distance oneself

"Prendre de l'avance" = to pull ahead of (avance = advance / lead)

"Prendre de l'élan" = to gather momentum

Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 12:37 AM

"Alors je prends de l'avance, en prenant du recul

Car prendre du recul, c'est prendre de l'élan"

French rapper Mc Solaar appearing on "Le bien, le mal", on Guru's Jazzmattazz' first album. We'll get back to the details... Not a bad album btw, hip-hop meets jazz.

Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 4:02 PM

Some more computer-related words:

Une souris = a mouse

Un écran = a screen

Un clavier = a keyboard

Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 8:04 AM

Small spelling differences…

French English

Une adresse An address

Dioxyde Dioxide

Un appartement An apartment

Une synchronisation A synchronization

Classique Classic

Etc..

Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 8:59 AM

Un ordinateur = a computer

We're not usually shy when it comes to using English words as is, but this one we adapted, for some reason.

PS: France 5 - Slovenia 0 Euro 2004 Qualifiers, no comments.

Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 8:38 AM

Bonheur = happiness (bonn - er)

And now we put the pieces together and end the week on an optimistic note:

"Le bonheur est dans le pré, cours-y vite, cours-y vite,

Le bonhheur est dans le pré, cours-y vite il va filer" (Paul Fort)

Poem that most kids have to learn in middle school….

<<http://www.saint.germain.free.fr/germinal/germ121/bonh_JPuteaux.htm>>

Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 8:40 AM

Filer = 1/ to spin (cotton, wool etc.) 2/ to run off

Mauvais = bad (moh - vey)

E.g. "Il file un mauvais coton" = he's turning out badly

Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 8:42 AM

Pré = meadow

Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 8:51 AM

Courir = to run (je cours / tu cours / il court / nous courons / vous courez / ils courent)

Vite = quickly

And the link of the day to go with it: <<http://www.leconjugueur.com>>. Excellent for people like me who could never properly conjugate a verb (and I'm not even talking of weird tenses like "subjonctif plus-que-parfait", I could never get present tense right)

Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 7:35 AM

Flagada or raplapla = exhausted, worn out (2 funny-sounding words for the price of one…I love them)

Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 7:22 AM

Loufoque = crazy, but in a funny way (loo - fok)

E.g. "Il est complètement loufoque!"

Bon et loufoque week-end à tous, donc.

Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 7:20 AM

Calembour = pun, play on words (ka-len-boo-reu)

Must've been a popular game yesterday.

Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 10:21 PM

Événement = event (ey - vey - neh - ment)

Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 10:17 AM

Remuant(e) = rowdy, boisterous, energetic