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frenchquench

Here at THE BLOG FOR FRANCOPHILES we're all having a little fun with the language spoken in Monaco, Luxembourg, Jersey (not the New one), Quebec, Belgium, a bunch of other places, and yes, even France.

Pas Oublié

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- February 06, 2009

If fait du vent aujourd'hui.

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Water Terms from 1752

- May 07, 2009

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...

Dadais

- May 06, 2009

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...