Archive for the year 2010
Les Fleurs: French for Flowers Posted by Jennie on Aug 6, 2010
The absolute first thing I did in Paris (when I got there two years ago, to spend a year studying) was work out my nerves on le chauffeur de taxi, the taxi driver. (I wanted to know the names of all the buildings we passed—ça marchait pas trop bien. This didn’t work too well.) The…
French Slang Expressions with the Letter F Posted by Hichem on Aug 5, 2010
Today, we continue with the second part of la lettre F. * FILER À L’ANGLAISE: Depending on which side of la Manche (the English Channel, that is), you either say “filer à l’Anglaise“, or, conversely, “take the French Leave.” The expression means to “jump ship.” Another close expression is “fausser compagnie à quelqu’un“, like “leaving under a cloud”! * FIN DES HARICOTS: “The…
“Un Jour en France” (RE-NOIR DÉSIR) Posted by Hichem on Jul 30, 2010
Non, non, pas du tout, you should read le titre (the title) as “RE: Noir Désir“, meaning a sequel to the previous post, “NOIR DÉSIR: “Un homme pressé” (“Man in a Hurry”)“, and not as a reference to some désirs artistiques of the celebrated master painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Since you liked the previous Noir Désir song, here’s another famous one signed by the same Bordelais group (“Bordelais”…
Beginner French: Conjugating Avoir Posted by Jennie on Jul 27, 2010
Bonjour mes amis débutants! (Hello, my beginner friends!) Hichem and I have so much fun exploring French slang, literature and culture, that we sometimes forget that not everyone is ready for tout ça (all that). Starting ce soir (tonight), we’ll begin Beginner Posts, especially aimed at les débutants who are just starting to learn French…
From Colonial Conquest to Space Conquest Posted by Hichem on Jul 21, 2010
From la Conquête Coloniale (the Colonial Conquest) to la Conquête Spatiale (the Space Conquest), la boucle semble desormais fermée (It has come full circle.) Comment est-ce que cela est arrivé? (How did that happen?) La course à l’espace (the Space Race) between the United States and the USSR lasted almost 30 ans (30 years), from 1957 to…
La Marseillaise (and “la réintégration de l’histoire”) Posted by Hichem on Jul 19, 2010
Last week, la France a fêté “la prise de la Bastille” (France celebrated “the storming of the Bastille.”) Apart from the symbolic value that this iconic day has acquired over the past two centuries, it is now important for the French, who are still rediscovering and “debating” their identité nationale, to reconsider the évènements cruciaux (crucial events) that took place in that year…
Who Are Ze French? Posted by Jennie on Jul 16, 2010
L’identité française (A not-too-academic discussion) Pas d’excuses! Mercredi (Wednesday) was Bastille Day, which is sort of like Hichem’s birthday because he’s French, and hier (yesterday) was mon anniversaire (my birthday)! So we’re all out of whack. Désolée. While “French politicians a bunch of whiny Islamophobic babies” (lien) is probably not good journalism, it is…