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Water Terms from 1752

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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...
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Dadais

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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...
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A French Walk with the Kids

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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 ...
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