Thursday, April 21, 2005

Le mot trié sur le volet

Today, a few words related to the fascinating, yet underestimated world of windows
(un) volet
= a shutter. An interesting expression is:
trié sur le volet = handpicked. Literally, sorted on a shutter. E.g.:
tous les candidats ont été triés sur le volet = all the candidatates were handpicked

Another word with similar meaning but infinitely sexier:
(une) persienne
The latter specifically designates shutters with horizontal openings . The word "persienne" is supposedly a variation of the word "persan" and refers to the oriental inspiration for their design.

(un) store
= here's a nice faux-ami, as it actually means "a blind" and is, as its English counterpart, mostly used in the plural form

(un) vasistas
(pronounced va-zee-stass) = an opening windowpane.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let's recap:



Des volets: Des persiennes:
Des stores: Un vasistas:

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