frenchquench

If you studied some French in school, or if you have learned a little for a trip you made at some point, you are going to know how to say APPLE in French. Who doesn't? But if you are like me, that is about as far as your apple discussion can go. J'ai un pomme. Est-ce que tu voudrais manger la pomme? Où est la pomme? Qui a la pomme rouge? Or maybe it gets even worse. Maybe you are nervous, like I was, when I sat down in a little cafe in Quebec, and ordered something very strange. I was remembering when you talk about apples, you have to be quite careful not to say "potato" instead.......the words are pretty closely related. Anyway, I had both mulling around in my head when I wanted a glass of tomato juice, which is the juice I ALWAYS have when I eat breakfast out, if I can. But this day, I just could not remember that tricky term (TOMATE)---difficult, right? Yes, I should have known it, but the mind gets flustered when you feel like you are on stage. So I changed and

Once more, an entry at random from La Dictionnaire Comique, Satyrique, Critique, Burlesque, Libre et Proverbial. 1752 FACTOTUM. Pour actif, vigilant, économe, soigneux, qui fait tout, qui est chargé de toutes les affaires d'une maison. Aussi bien vous mêlez vous céans d'être le factotum. Molière. Avare. Vous qui le Roi Crésus êtes le factotum, Je vous prie, en payant, de me rendre un service. Boursault , Esope. Mais Edmé Boursault, qui était-il? Dramatiste, fabuliste, and at odds with Molière ! Un de ses fables: LE DOGUE ET LE BŒUF Un dogue, superbe, envieux, Etant couché dans un champ, Fut assez lâche et méchant Pour empêcher le bœuf d’y trouver un peu d’herbe. Le bœuf en mugissant portant ailleurs ses pas Maudit sois-tu, dit-il, et que malheur t’arrive Ta méchanceté me prive De ce que tu ne veux pas.

Suppose you are taking a walk with your insect-intrigued toddler or small child and you want to expose them to a little French. You can combine the two disciplines (insects and language learning) by reviewing, before your walk, a little of that science vocab you learned long ago in French class (lol), so that you can share some of the words and start discussing the topic à la belle langue. And then, petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid. Even if you find an ant hill, it is exceedingly unlikely you are going to be able to see la reine . Elle reste dans la chambre sous du sol, où elle s'occupe à pondre des milliers d'oeufs, au printemps et en été. Mais, on peut-être trouverai: La Fourmilière-- un nid donne l'abri aux fourmis. Une ouvrière emploie les mandibules pour attraper sa proie . Bouche-à-bouche. Les ouvrières donnent une partie de la nourriture aux autres fourmis. Mais d'abord, on mâche ça un petit peu! Corrections always appreciated, due to the inescapable fact

EAU. Here is a huge entry......there must be 18-20 entries in the Dictionnaire Comique, Satyrique, Critique, Burlesque, Libre et Proverbial for the French word meaning WATER. I am not a fast enough reader of French to find out if there is an entry about a water truck in the time I have available this foggy, yet busy morning, but I do quite a few expressions listed, some of which are: Battre l'eau. Pour dire, travailler inutilement. One is said to be fighting water when one is not making any progress. Faire venir l'eau au moulin. Pour dire, faire venir l'argent à la maison. One is said to make water come to the mill when one is supporting a house financially. In English, we might say bringing home the bacon. Porter de l'eau à la mer. C'est à dire, donner à quelqu'un des choses dont il n'a déjà que trop. To carry water to the sea is to give something to someone who has enough of that thing already! Not having any trouble reading these entries, all of wh

Let's have another entry from le Dictionnaire Satyrique! Dadais. Mot injurieux, qui veut dire, sot, bête, niais, innocent, dandin. C'est le plus dadais que j'aye jamais vu, Molière , Bourg. Gentih. Notes (with appreciation to imagin-nation.com and wikipedia): Even as a child, Molière (1622-1673) thought it was a heck of a lot more fun to taunt and mimic the aristocracy than to associate with them. Born to un des valets de chambre tapissiers (upholsterers for the king's court), he never showed any real interest for the business of upholstering. But his father's shop was located near the Pont-Neuf, where comedians performed farces in the street in order to promote and sell patent medicines to those passing by. Exposure to this led to a deep interest in the theatre, and years later, on the evening of October 24, 1658, Molière and his troupe performed for the first time before Louis XIV and his courtiers in the Guard Room of th

2005-09-17 10-01 Provence 184 Lourmarin Originally uploaded by Allie_Caulfield

Today an entry at random from La Dictionnaire Comique, Satyrique, Critique, Burlesque, Libre et Proverbial. 1752 Captiver. Ce mot n'est pas fort usité au propre. Il a beaucoup de grace au figuré, où il signifie aussi gagner, assujettir. Je rirai au galans, que vous viendrons captiver. Sarrazin. Il faut captiver son esprit, pour l'assujettir à a fois. More on the La Dictionnaire Comique, Satyrique, Critique, Burlesque, Libre et Proverbial. 1752: A dictionary of popular usage, slang and proverbs. The work was censured by later critics for including indecencies and low-life jargon, so I am not likely to be translating it for you, am I, now??? Anyway, it remains a pioneer work in the field and invaluable for study of works in the vernacular from Rabelais onwards.