French Word of the Day

L'avion

2008-05-19T08:28:00.000-04:00

Un avion = a plane (pronounced ah-vee-on)

L'avion is also the name of the new (or maybe not-so-new anymore by now) low-fare business class connecting Newark to Paris' lesser-known airport Orly, the larger airport being known as either Charles de Gaulle or Roissy (from the name of the town where it's located)

un cliché

2008-05-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

un cliché = a print (for pictures) or a cliché.

All this just to introduce today's article from the UK on clichés about France.

Vive le foot

2008-05-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

le championnat = championship, which in France (as in most of Europe) can only mean one thing: football! (a.k.a proper football, a.k.a. soccer).

The word is (quite obviously) derived from un champion (pronounced sh-an-pee-on) / une championne which means (quite obviously again) a champion.

If you're not following France's championship, I don't blame you, it can be both boring (Lyon coming first seven years in a row?) and exciting - like this year, with next week-end's games deciding both the 1st place (between Lyon and Bordeaux) and the last team falling to second division (between Lens, Toulouse and Paris-Saint Germain).

Fou rire

2008-05-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

fou (feminine folle) is an adjective that means crazy, wild, erratic
le rire = laughter

Un fou rire is uncontrollable laughter, or giggles.

May 8

2008-05-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

Today, le 8 Mai, marks a couple of important anniversaries, in France and beyond:

It marks WWII V-day
Less famously, on May 8, 1790, the French National Assembly decided to introduce the metric system.

May 8th is one of the many holidays in May in France, and as it falls on a Thursday is it the perfect setup to allow people to "faire le pont" (literally make the bridge), i.e. turn this into a 4-day week-end. Just like last week with May 1st (Labor Day).

Re: Séries télé

2008-04-03T10:01:00.000-04:00

Answer's to the séries télé quiz are below. Typically, when importing TV series, we tend to either:

Keep the original title (more and more - see Heroes, Weeds... even How I met your mother)
Keep the original title but make it more self-explanatory ("24 heures chrono", "The Closer : L.A. Enquêtes prioritaires"...)
Completely change it, and ideally make sure it has nothing to do with the original title, in order to increase confusion... like below

1. La Croisière s'amuse = E. The Love boat
2. Alerte à Malibu = I. Baywatch
3. Arnold et Willy = K. Diff'rent Strokes
4. Newport Beach = G. The O.C. (I guess O.C. is
5. La quatrième dimension = A. The Twilight Zone
6. L'Agence tous risques = D. The A Team
7. Les Experts = H. CSI
8. Enquêteur malgré lui = J. Psych
9. Larry et son nombril = F. Curb your enthusiasm (Larry and his navel!)
10. Sur écoute = C. The Wire
11. Mon oncle Charlie = B. Two and a Half Men

Séries télé

2008-04-01T16:27:00.000-04:00

Une série télé = a TV series

Can you match the French TV series below with their original titles?

1. La Croisière s'amuse	A. The Twilight Zone
2. Alerte à Malibu	B. Two and a Half Men
3. Arnold et Willy	C. The Wire
4. Newport Beach	D. The A Team
5. La quatrième dimension	E. The Love boat
6. L'Agence tous risques	F. Curb your enthusiasm
7. Les Experts	G. The O.C.
8. Enquêteur malgré lui	H. CSI
9. Larry et son nombril	I. Baywatch
10. Sur écoute	J. Psych
11. Mon oncle Charlie	K. Diff'rent Strokes

Fruits de mer

2008-03-27T16:05:00.000-04:00

un fruit (pronounced fru - ee) = a fruit
la mer = the sea

fruits de mer is, now that I think about it, a quite interesting way of referring to seafood (literally, sea fruit)

Joyeuses Pâques!

2008-03-24T12:39:00.000-04:00

Pâques = Easter (pronounced pak)

Soupçon

2008-03-19T08:35:00.000-04:00

un soupçon = a suspicion; a little bit, a trace of (pronounced soop - son)

E.g.
J'ai des soupçons = I have suspicions
Veux-tu un soupçon de vin ? = Would you like a drop of wine?

soupçonner quelqu'un de quelquechose = to suspect someone of something
Je le soupçonne de fumer en cachette = I suspect he secretely smokes

Guili

2008-03-18T10:22:00.000-04:00

guili guili (pronounced guee-lee guee-lee) is what you say when tickling someone!

Pareil

2008-03-14T14:28:00.000-04:00

pareil = the same (pronounced pah - raye)
E.g. c'est pareil = it's the same
see also même:
e.g. J'ai le même T-shirt = I have the same T-shirt
C'est du pareil au même = It makes no difference (same as "C'est kif-kif")

And my favorite:
C'est blanc bonnet et bonnet blanc = It's all the same. Literally it's white hat and hat white

Bavoir

2008-03-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

un bavoir = a bib

Un(e)

2008-03-06T08:49:00.000-05:00

un / une = one. Some expressions with un/une:

s'en jeter un (derrière la cravate) = to knock back a drink (literally to throw a drink behind one's tie :-)
être comme pas un/une = to be extremely / to be the greatest + adjective. E.g. Il est menteur comme pas un = he's the greatest liar, elle est fière comme pas une = she's extremely proud
un pour tous et tous pour un = all for one and one for all

Les aléas du métier

2008-03-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

(un) aléa = a hazard
e.g. les aléas du métier = occupational hazards

(un) métier = a job, profession

La tête

2008-02-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

For some reason, we hae a lot of synonyms for la tête (head) or le visage (face), including:

(la) bille
(la) binette
(la) bobine
(la) bouille
(la) caboche
(la) figure
(la) frimousse
(la) gueule
(la) tronche
(la) trogne
(la) trombine
and probably others I can't remember right now.

E.g. se casser la figure
or se casser la binette
or se casser la margoulette (I've never heard anyone say this, but give it a shot)
or se casser la gueule (slang) = to fall

MIam!

2008-02-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

miam is the equivalent of "mmmh", an expression to signal that one is enjoying food... but mostly in anticipation of eating it (try saying miam miam! while actually chewing food).

It is pronounced mee-am

Nouveau-né

2008-02-22T09:08:00.000-05:00

un nouveau-né or un nourrisson = a newborn

Coming from, respectively:

nouveau (feminine nouvelle) = new
né / née = born
nourrir = to feed

As someone who can never remember when consonants are doubled, I sometimes need help with nourrir (two 'r's) and mourir (to die - only one 'r'). A well-known trick is to use a single 'r' for the verb related to something you do only once, and two 'r's for the one you do more than one time. Works for me everytime.

La dent

2008-02-20T08:47:00.000-05:00

(une) dent = a tooth

avoir une dent contre quelqu'un = to hold a grudge against someone

La petite souris = the tooth fairy (literally the little mouth)

Tête et queue

2008-02-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

la tête = head
la queue = tail

a couple of expressions that incorporate both:
ça n'a ni queue ni tête = it doesn't make sense (literally it has neither head nor tails)
faire un tête-à-queue = to slew around

La Blanquette

2008-02-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

la blanquette is a French dish, whose name is derived from blanc ('c' is silent, feminine blanche) which means white. It is a delicious veal stew with lots of aromatic herbs, served in a thick creamy sauce. It's not even that hard to make if you have time on your hands (and a bouquet garni)

La mouche

2008-02-08T22:12:00.000-05:00

une mouche (pronounced moosh) = a fly, bull's eye (when referring to a target) or a fake beauty spot.

Lots of interesting expressions with mouche:

il ne ferait pas de mal à une mouche = he wouldn't hurt a fly
on entendrait une mouche voler = you could hear a pin drop (literally a fly buzz)
quelle mouche les a piqués? = what's gotten into them? (literally what fly bit them)
regarder voler les mouches = to stare into space (literally to watch flies)
prendre la mouche = to get upset, to take something personally
tomber comme des mouches = to drop like flies.

Cadeau

2008-02-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

un cadeau (promounced kah-doh) = a present, a gift

faire or donner un cadeau (à quelqu'un) = to give (someone) a present

Back to basics

2008-02-04T10:01:00.000-05:00

oui = yes (pronounced wee)
non = no
peut-être = maybe (literally could be, pronounced puh't-aytr)

An example, in the spirit of this week-end's presidential wedding:
Sarkozy et Bruni ont dit "oui" = Sarkozy and Bruni said "yes"

Un bouquet

2008-01-31T12:13:00.000-05:00

un bouquet = a bouquet (duh!)

Also worth noting:
un bouquet garni (literally garnished bouquet) is a bundle of aromatic herbs used in stews and soups
le bouquet final (literally final bouquet) is either

in construction, the "topping out", ie addition of a branch/ribbon/bouquet on top of a new construction to celebrate its completion
the last few shots of a fireworks display