French is a beautiful language. Do you speak French ?
I already spoke good French when we arrived in France, but there were nonetheless a lot of words I hadn’t come across. I remember going to the butcher and asking for chicken breast – poitrine de poulet – but they say blanc de poulet. And I was totally confused when I discovered that a window blind is called un store.
My favourite new word was le cagibi – a small shed or similar. If you say it loudly – CAGIBI ! – it sounds really good. Preferably throw one hand up as you say it.
People often say to me “French is such a beautiful language” and yes – it is. It sounds pleasant when you don’t understand it, and it is pleasant when you do, which cannot be said for all languages.
As they pop into my head, some French words & phrases you won’t learn at evening class (accents missing):-
en sursis– suspended, ie prison en sursis, suspended sentence
le planning or un agenda – a diary
The verb re-booter – to switch your computer back on
macho – chauvinist. In English the word macho (which is a Spanish word) means manly, strong, even muscular (as it does in Spanish), but in French it means a man who thinks he is superior to women
chapeau! – I take my hat off to you
plusieurs reprises – several times (je vous ai telephone a plusieurs reprises)
pas plus mal – literally “not more bad” or “it wouldn’t be worse” (my husband often says this in English, using the direct translation), meaning “a good idea”, ie “c’est pas plus mal si on va a la plage ” – sort-of, yes, we might just as well go to the beach. Note: correctly written this should be “ce n’est pas…” though few would in fact actually say it like that
remue-menage – doing a lot with no good result. Literally “move housework” or “stirring chores”
ca etait ? – was that OK? The waiter would ask you this as he clears away your plates, for example
baisser les bras – to give up, throw the towel in
c’est normal ? – “c’est normal qu’il y a de l’eau dans l’atelier?” meaning “were you aware there is water in the workshop?”
machin-truc – thingamijig
pas un chat – abandoned, nobody about
deuxieme souffle – second wind
brouillon – rough, rough-and-ready, a bit messy
que Dieu vous offre – that God gives (ie she works every day that God gives)
eventuellement – perhaps, ie shall we go to the beach? Oui, eventuellement … It does not mean eventually, it means yes we could perhaps …
exploitation – to make use of in a non-negative sense, e.g of land or of a building. The English word exploitation suggests something negative, e.g exploiting children for child labour.
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