French Word of the Day June 2003
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 12:09 PM
top = great
E.g.: C'était top! = It was great!
C'est le top = It's the best
..., ce qui est bien, mais pas top = ..., which is good, but not great (famous quote from cult movie La cité de la peur)
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 8:34 AM
Subject: RE: French album of the day
Noir Désir ("Black Desire"): very successful and widely respected alternative rock band that's been around since the late 80's. 'Tostaky' and '666,667 Club' are probably their most accessible albums and are good introductions to the band.
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:48 AM
(un) détail (day -tie) = a detail
des menus détails = minutiae
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 8:35 AM
Subject: FW: French word of the day 07/24/2002 - 06/25/2003
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 8:22 AM
(un) renard = a fox
rusé comme un renard = cunning as a fox
un renard des surfaces = a fox in the penalty box...soccer term referring to an attacker who's always sniffing for the slightest goal opportunity
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 8:20 AM
(un) expresso = an espresso
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 11:50 AM
le cynisme = cynicism
un/une cynique = a cynic
cynique = cynical
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 9:55 AM
resquiller = to cheat, by trying to get something for free. E.g. dine & dash, entering a movie theater by the exit...
un resquilleur / une resquilleuse = a person doing the above
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 8:40 AM
(une) casserole = a pan / sauce pan
chanter comme une casserole = to sing poorly
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 8:42 AM
Subject: RE: French album of the day
Beginning of a new series desperately aimed at proving that French music is not limited to insipid Michel Sardou-soundalikes, but can also, strangely enough, be cutting-edge. Sometimes. I think.
DJ Cam: following the likes of DJ Shadow and DJ Krush, the Parisian mixes deliciously relaxing jazz samples with hip-hop beats. Call that electro-jazz, abstract hip-hop, trip-hop...whatever...but it's does a wonderful job. Buy Mad Blunted Jazz (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000005E0X/qid=1055883410/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-8414029-4447252?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) and get a bonus CD with live performances of tracks from previous albums.
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 8:19 AM
(un) homard = a lobster (the 'd' is silent)
E.g. une bisque de homard
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 7:32 AM
(une) âme = a soul
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 8:12 AM
(une) imprimante = a printer
(un) bourrage papier = a paper jam
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 1:29 PM
gérer = to manage
Also colloquial expression meaning "to take care of". E.g.:
Tu gères les places de ciné ? = Are you taking care of the movie tickets ?
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 8:12 AM
Subject: RE: French cult movie of the day
A (huge) piece of French culture today. Le Splendid is a theater company that emerged in the 70s. Their first movie, "Les bronzés", adapted from their successful play depicting the adventures of a group of friends in a Club Med vacation camp, quickly became a cult movie. Having seen the movie and knowing at least 10 quotes from it is a requirement for becoming a French citizen (ok maybe not but it should).
The movie was followed by a sequel ("Les bronzés font du ski", same group of friends, this time on a ski vacation in the French Alps), and another cult adaptation of one of the Splendid plays, "Le Père Noël est une ordure" ("Santa Claus is a bastard"). Only Les bronzés seems to have made it to the English-speaking world, under the interesting title "French fried vacation".
Some extracts:
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 8:25 AM
(une) corde = a rope
il pleut des cordes = it's raining cats and dogs
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 9:36 AM
abracadabra = abracadabra
Nothing spectacular here. Now, there's also the adjective:
abracadabrant(e) = incredible, hard to believe
E.g. une histoire abracadabrante or une histoire à dormir debout = an incredible story
And when you hear an incredible story, you can say:
Les bras m'en tombent! (My arms are falling off!)
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 8:42 AM
(un/une) volontaire = a volunteer
être volontaire = to volunteer
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 9:50 AM
un cheval / des chevaux = horse, or horsepower
E.g. une deux-chevaux ("2CV") = a two horsepower car.
Nicknamed Deuche or Dodoche and created by French carmaker Citroën over 60 years ago, the 2CV has achieved legendary status due to its great reliability and fun factor.
http://www.2cvsrus.com/index2.htm
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 8:30 AM
(une) pompe = a pump. Also slang for shoe.
E.g.:
un coup de pompe = a sudden fatigue
être à côté de ses pompes = to be lost (kinda like "être à la rue", see somewhere below)
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 10:06 AM
(un) manège = a merry-go-round
(un) pompon = a bobble. Le pompon is also the fluffed animal tail that kids try to catch on le manège. Hence a couple of expressions:
Décrocher le pompon = to catch the pompon, i.e. to win, to come in first place
C'est le pompon ! = ironic: That does it !
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 8:13 PM
nul / nulle = hopeless, useless (for a job, at school etc). By extension , applies to anything that sucks.
E.g.
Elle est nulle en maths = She's hopeless at math
C'est nul ! = It sucks !
posted by Mandor at 5:23 PM
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