Archive for 'Culture'
“Tu Tires ou tu Pointes?”: An Introduction to the Game of Pétanque (Part 1) Posted by mtaulier on Feb 21, 2014
France, like most countries of the world, seems to have a fascination with le football (soccer). Football has legions of fans throughout France but there is another game that is nearly as popular and that appeals to people of all ages. Pétanque (pronounced pay-tonk), commonly referred to as le jeu de boules (the game of…
L’Amour est dans l’Air (Love is in the Air): The Origins of Valentine’s Day Posted by mtaulier on Feb 14, 2014
Today is Valentine’s Day and for people in many countries across the world, it can only mean one thing: l’Amour (Love). But how did le jour de Saint Valentin (St. Valentine’s day) come to be? To understand the origins of Valentine’s Day, we must travel back plusieurs siècles (several centuries) to the days of the…
Le jour le plus froid au monde (The Coldest Day in the World) Posted by Hichem on Feb 3, 2014
Today’s post tells l’histoire (the story) of Little Jack, a boy born in l’Écosse (Scotland) on what is said to have been le jour le plus froid du monde (the coldest day in the world), nearly a century and a half ago. On that fateful day, baby Little Jack had his cœur gelé (heart frozen.) A mysterious midwife, called Docteur Madeleine, carefully replaced his heart with…
Comme Toi… (Like You…) Posted by mtaulier on Jan 31, 2014
Earlier this month, we looked at une chanson d’amour (a love song) written by French singer/songwriter Francis Cabrel called Je l’Aime à Mourir (I Love Her to Death). I hope you took the opportunity to seek out more of Cabrel’s work. There is plenty to choose from since this year will mark the 40th year…
Poetry in Motion: A Translation of La Fontaine’s Most Famous Fable Posted by mtaulier on Jan 29, 2014
Try to recall for a moment your days in grammar school. How many poems did you have to learn? Did you have to recite any devant la classe (before the class)? If you attended an English-speaking school, you may have studied poems by Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, John Keats, Lord Byron and the like. The…
Miette par Miette (Crumb by Crumb): Your Quick Guide to French Bread Posted by mtaulier on Jan 27, 2014
In the last post, I relayed a humorous anecdote about ma petite mésaventure (my little misadventure) with a baguette. Since France is known for its bread, I thought we could take a moment to explore the wonderful world of le pain Français (French bread). This might come in handy should you ever visit France and…
La Tentation de la Baguette (The Baguette Temptation) Posted by mtaulier on Jan 14, 2014
One of my fondest memories of living in France was walking into the boulangerie (bakery) down the street from where we lived. I can vividly remember the sudden burst of hot air I felt every time I stepped inside. The temperature outside the bakery didn’t matter, les fours (the ovens) never stopped working to bring…