French Word of the Day April 2005

Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 10:54 PM

Aaaaah, that good'ol French vs. English battle http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3819169

Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 12:12 AM

Sidilarsen. Techno-metal band from Toulouse's "Antistatic" collective. Think Nine Inch Nails meets Rammstein à la Française. Probably very hard to find outside of France, but their website have a few downloadable samples. http://sidilarsen.free.fr/home_uk.htm

Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 11:22 AM

(un) compte (pronounced like "conte") = count / amount au bout du compte / en fin de compte = in the end (when everything has been counted) tout compte fait = all things considered

Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 9:17 AM

plaire = to be attractive / pleasant / likeable / popular

il plaît aux femmes = women find him attractive

mon travail me plaît = I like my job

conjugation of this one is tricky, I'll stick to the present tense:

je plais

tu plais

il plaît

nous plaisons

vous plaisez

ils plaisent

I don't think anyone needs the "imparfait du subjonctif" form

encore eût-il fallu que vous leur plussiez

Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 8:42 AM

(la) poisse = bad luck avoir la poisse = to be jinxed porter la poisse (à quelqu'un) = to bring bad luck (to someone) c'est la poisse! = too bad!

Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 6:29 PM

(la) pluie = rain Après la pluie, le beau temps = every cloud has a silver lining (literally: "after the rain, nice weather")

Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 8:43 AM

Hélas = Alas ('s' is silent, 's' is not)

Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 8:53 AM

(un) poisson d'Avril = an April fool's joke (literally: an April fish) The typical poisson d'Avril consists of sticking a paper fish on someone's back without him/her noticing. Why a fish and not an elephant or a camel is unclear, and there are various explanations: some say it's because it coincides with the end of Lent (when fish is consumed instead of meat) some say it's because fishing is prohibited during this period, and that as a joke people would make fake fish and throw them in rivers some say it's because of the Zodiac sign

As with everything else, I don't really care.