Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Bienvenue Adam! Posted by adam on May 9, 2011
Have you ever dreamed of wandering through the quaint cobblestoned streets of Paris, pausing to savor an exquisite cafe gourmand at one of the city’s many celebrated neighborhood cafes? My name is Adam, and I have the incredible opportunity to do just that…every single day! Originally hailing from small town Iowa, I’ve called Paris home…
Secrets de l’art magique surréaliste (Secrets of the Magical Surrealist Art) Posted by Hichem on May 6, 2011
Yesterday’s post, “Surréalisme of André Breton: “La chute libre dans le subconscient” (“The Free Fall into the Subconscious”)“, introduced a general idea of what “le surréalisme” is, and described the Surrealist call to give carte blanche (or “free rein”) to one’s subconscious, in the manner that was expressed by le chef de file (the leader) of…
Surréalisme of André Breton Posted by Hichem on May 5, 2011
Imagine if you were to completely open your mind, without the slightest form of compulsion or restraint, set it into the most “passive mode“, and start writing, just writing, not caring about any considération logique ou esthétique (logical or esthetical consideration)… Give free reign to your subconscious to express itself in plain words. If you…
Conjugaison: The Verb Comprendre (To Understand) Posted by Hichem on May 4, 2011
“Je vous ai compris” (“I understood you”) is a famous political statement made in l’histoire de France. Its inherent semantic ambiguïté managed to buy some time for its inventor, le Général de Gaulle, in dealing with la guerre d’Algérie (the Algerian War), but somehow didn’t do much good, half a century later, to ex-presidents Ben Ali and Mubarak—A…
Rome, la ville éternelle (the Eternal City) Posted by Hichem on May 2, 2011
It is one thing to discover a city of the grandeur of Rome or Paris using a step-by-step guide touristique (city guide), but it is completely another when it is through the insightful work of a literary genius. * * * In today’s post, nous allons suivre les traces (we will follow the footsteps) of…
Hedonistic French Rap: “Chui Un Bo Gosse” (I’m a Handsome Kid) Posted by Hichem on Apr 30, 2011
Disiz la Peste dedicates this song to “tous les beaux gosses et les belles gosses” (“all the handsome kids and the beautiful girls”)—No doubt an “inspirational hymn” for the “bogossitude” movement headed by its founder, Mickaël Vendetta * * * If you read the title and haven’t yet come to understand how “Chui un bo gosse”…
La Plume de Ma Tante (My Aunt’s Pen) Posted by Hichem on Apr 29, 2011
For the now-graying baby boomer generation, the title of “la plume de ma tante” often evokes some fond and vivid early childhood memories; whereas for the progeny of the “Generation X” and above (Generation Y and Z), it most likely reminds them of a rather ghastly scene of le film d’horreur (horror movie) “l’Exorciste“, which premiered…