Live & Learn French

12/06/2016

P.S. Cicada comes from the Greek " Kiccos" (=membrane) and "ado" (= sing): and in Provence they are as symbolic of the region as Russion dolls are of Russia, and you can buy thel made of porcelain.

12/06/2016

It's the beginning of summer, at last; (the hot weather is very late this year) and with the summer come first the grasshoppers - sauterelles - because they jump "sauter" and later, when it's really hot, there are the "cigales" : "cicada" in Latin.

06/06/2016

We have been making a film about the castle here in our village, and it set me thinking about the English word "surrender" : it must come from the French "se rendre" : to give oneself up.

12/09/2015

The answers to the last posting ? 1) a frog in the throat; 2) a bat in your belfry and 3) those who have "a screw loose" !
I have just been to a French civil wedding in our little village. The Mayor (maire) officiated in his tricolor sash of office, which transformed him from the local builder into the living representative of the Republic of France. The event took place (a eu lieu) in the town hall (Mairie). The majesty of the law was invoked when the maire read the laws concerning the duties of marriage (le mariage), and the bride (la mariée = the married woman) was duly joined to the bridegroom (le marié = the married man), who thereby became the husband (le mari). But, alas, (hélas), there is no word for "wife" in French : the language must have evolved when society was ultra-patriarchal: "my wife" (ma femme) and "my woman" (ma femme) are one and the same.

06/01/2015

Take a guess at the various problems faced by those who are said in French to have 1) "un chat dans la gorge"; 2) "une araignée au plafond"; 3) la gu**le de bois; or 4) who fail to have "la lumière à tous les étages" ! Meanwhile, Bonne Année à toutes et à tous !

28/12/2014

Bonne Année 2015 ! In the South of France there is the tradition of "les treize desserts" to finish off the Christmas meal. Why 13 ? It harks back to the 12 disciples with Jesus. If possible, all the desserts (nuts, dried fruits, exotic fruit, fresh white grapes, nougat) had to be in shades of white or beige or black, symbolizing purity (white) and sin (black) and in memory of the mendicant orders of monks (like the Franciscans) whose habits were of those colours. Too often nowadays, by the time the desserts are served, appetites fail after a long feast !

12/11/2014

A great month with Wendy Gedney of Vin en Vacances bringing her French up to speed and sampling local wines

05/03/2014

Did you know ? The French for "to sulk" is "bouder"; a lady's bo***ir, or private sitting room, is the place she could retire to, to sulk in. Of course, the term must have been invented by an irate husband; the lady herself regarded the room as a place for meditation, or for receiving intimate friends ....

09/10/2013

Now the grapes are being gathered : les vendanges ! Here we have "une grappe de raisin " = a bunch of grapes. For top quality wine, people will "égrapper les grains" (= take the grapes from the bunch) before pouring them into the vats. The French talk of "le raisin" (without s) and individual "grains", as we might talk of rice, and grains of rice. To a Frenchman, when you talk of "grapes" with an s, it should mean several bunches !

09/10/2013

29/09/2013

Rivers come from springs, and a spring in French is a "source", so it follows that a water diviner, seeking springs, is a "sourcier", and from this comes our "sorcerer".