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Get cozy Posted by on Feb 1, 2022 in Idioms, Music, Vocabulary

February may be the shortest month (thank goodness!) and meteorological spring might be just 28 days away, but with its cieux gris1grey skies, neige2snow, and froid3cold, it can feel like the longest! For me, there is no better month to get cozy than février!

Photo CCo from Pixabay

Ça caille toujours …

The weather hasn’t gotten any warmer since DjeuhDhoah & Lieutenant Nicholson introduced us to a new way to talk about the cold in French via a little Brazilian detour. C’est un temps à rester chez soi, bien au chaud, avec un bon livre4It’s the kind of weather for staying home, nice and warm, with a good book.

During the pandemic, the Danish concept of hygge had a moment, as they say. I’ve never come across an exact French equivalent, but when le mistral blows en Provence, la pluie tombe en Bretagne5the rain falls in Brittany, or il neige dans les Vosges, les Alpes, ou les Pyrénées6or it snows in the Vosges, Alps, or Pyrenees mountains… it’s time to get cozy.

This site from Denmark equates hygge with intimité7intimacy “Essentiellement, hygge signifie créer une atmosphère chaleureuse et profiter des belles choses de la vie avec les personnes que l’on aime.”8Essentially, hygge means to create a warm ambiance and to take advantage of those wonderful parts of life with people that we love This article from LaPress+ agrees, at least in part, with the idea of hygge as cozy (in English) but more with conviviality: “Le hygge est davantage un sentiment partagé avec sa famille et ses amis, alors que le cocooning fait plutôt référence à un moment de repos plus solitaire, avec un bon livre, par exemple”9Hygge is more a feeling shared with family and friends, while ‘cocooning’ refers more to a solitary moment of rest, with a good book, for example.

Pantouflard

As I said, and as the two articles cited above confirm, there isn’t really a French equivalent of hygge – at least not any that conveys both cozy and convivial. But there is a French word that, for me, captures the idea of getting cozy and staying in when the weather is bad (or, really, anytime you don’t feel like going out) and that word is pantouflard.

Like hygge in French, there isn’t really a good English equivalent for pantouflard in English. It comes from the word pantoufle / slipper and refers to a person (or a state of mind/mood) for staying in your slippers all day, not doing much, and just being.

Un temps pantouflard10A cozy day for me is the perfect time to curl up in chair with a good book. In French, to curl up or to wrap up in is expressed by the verb se lover. This is a term that has taken me years to figure out … I think mostly because I could never quite get my brain to let go of the word love stuck in the middle there! One can se lover dans un fauteuil, se lover dans les bras de quelqu’un, ou se lover dans un lit comfortable.11curl up in a armchair, wrap yourself in someone’s arms, our curl up in a comfortable bed Se lover can also be used to mean to coil as in un serpent qui se love12a snake coiling itself up or une corde bien lovée13a rope well coiled.

The song below, from French singer Étienne Daho, was my first introduction to the word … and is a great, catchy tune. I hope you like it!

 

Windy Weather with Le Mistral

French Culture – Bretagne bis

  • 1
    grey skies
  • 2
    snow
  • 3
    cold
  • 4
    It’s the kind of weather for staying home, nice and warm, with a good book
  • 5
    the rain falls in Brittany
  • 6
    or it snows in the Vosges, Alps, or Pyrenees mountains
  • 7
    intimacy
  • 8
    Essentially, hygge means to create a warm ambiance and to take advantage of those wonderful parts of life with people that we love
  • 9
    Hygge is more a feeling shared with family and friends, while ‘cocooning’ refers more to a solitary moment of rest, with a good book, for example
  • 10
    A cozy day
  • 11
    curl up in a armchair, wrap yourself in someone’s arms, our curl up in a comfortable bed
  • 12
    a snake coiling itself up
  • 13
    a rope well coiled
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About the Author: Tim Hildreth

Since my first trip to France at 16, I have been a passionate francophile. I love the language, food, music, art, people, and more that make France and la Francophonie in general such an amazing part of our global community. Having lived in France and studied the language and culture for over 35 years, it is my great pleasure to be able to share a little bit of my deep love with you through this blog.