It’s finally here – the ceremony honoring Josephine Baker’s addition to Le Panthéon is today!

Photo CC0 from Nicolas at www.pexels.com

Today is the day

“La cérémonie [qui aura lieu à partir de 17h30]  sera présidée par Emmanuel Macron, qui prononcera un discours lors de cet hommage que la famille de Joséphine Baker a souhaité “populaire et festif”.”¹The ceremony [which will take place beginning at 5:30 p.m.] will be overseen by Emmanuel Macron, who will deliver a speech during this hommage which Josephine Baker’s family wishes to be “accessible and festive”

Interestingly, Josephine Baker is not actually moving to the Pantheon. Her remains are to remain in Monaco “où elle est enterrée près de son mari et d’un de ses enfants”²where she is buried near her husband and one of her children. Instead a cénotaphe³a cenotaph is a memorial to a person or people buried elsewhere containing “de la terre des quatre endroits symboliques où Joséphine a passé une partie de sa vie : St-Louis, Paris, les Milandes en Dordogne, et Monaco”⁴dirt from four symbolic locations where Josephine spent part of her life: St. Louis (Missouri, USA; where she was born), Paris, (the château of) Milandes in the Dordogne region of France, and Monaco will be brought to the Patheon and installed “[d]ans le caveau 13 […] dans une allée en face de celle où reposent André Malreaux […] et d’autres personnalités illustres”⁵in cellar 13 in an alley across from the cellar where André Malreaux and other illustrious persons rest

The date, mardi 30 novembre, was chosen because it is the “anniversaire de son mariage avec Jean Lion […u]ne union assez brève mais qui lui a permis de devenir française”⁶anniversary of her marriage to Jean Lion […] a short union, but one that allowed her to become a French citizen.

À la banque bis

Photo cc0 cottonbro at www.pexels.com

A few weeks back, Bridgette shared some useful vocabulary with us for trips to the bank. It got me thinking of two common slang terms for l’argent that you’re more likely to hear dans la rue qu’à la banque.

The first is le fric. A term which comes, according to this article, from the words “fricot ou de fricandeau, qui signifiaient ragoût de viande”⁷fricot or fricandeau, which mean a meat stew, fric is commonly to replace argent in expressions like “T’as du fric?”⁸Do you have any money/cash?, or “Ce type est riche. Il a plein de fric!”⁹That guy is rich. He has tons of money!

Pognon is another term for money or cash. It may come, according to the same article, from the French verb poigner – to grasp in the fist; to grab. “Pierre a une tonne de pognon depuis qu’il a vendu sa baraque.”¹⁰Peter has a ton of cash/money since he sold his house

While we’re at it, here are a couple of other common expressions related to money (or the lack thereof!): être plein aux as¹¹to be loaded; to have a lot of money; to be flush with cash; être fauché¹²to be broke; ne pas avoir un rond¹³to be broke; lit. to not even have a coin.

Spoiler alert!

Speaking of vocabulary, I came across a great new word this week in an article from lefigaro.fr Cinq anglicismes à bouter hors de la langue française¹⁴Five English terms to kick out of the French language.

The DGLFLF¹⁵See the previous post Fake News (below) to learn more about the DGLFLF proposes the term divulgâcher (a blend of the verbs divulger (to reveal) and gâcher (to spoil) to replace spoiler when talking about your favorite série télévisée (Like Dix pour cent which was recently honored with an international Emmy!).

I’m not sure if it will take off or not, but it sure seems like a clever alternative to me!

À la banque

French Culture – Fake News

Josephine Baker

• 1
  The ceremony [which will take place beginning at 5:30 p.m.] will be overseen by Emmanuel Macron, who will deliver a speech during this hommage which Josephine Baker’s family wishes to be “accessible and festive”
• 2
  where she is buried near her husband and one of her children
• 3
  a cenotaph is a memorial to a person or people buried elsewhere
• 4
  dirt from four symbolic locations where Josephine spent part of her life: St. Louis (Missouri, USA; where she was born), Paris, (the château of) Milandes in the Dordogne region of France, and Monaco
• 5
  in cellar 13 in an alley across from the cellar where André Malreaux and other illustrious persons rest
• 6
  anniversary of her marriage to Jean Lion […] a short union, but one that allowed her to become a French citizen
• 7
  fricot or fricandeau, which mean a meat stew
• 8
  Do you have any money/cash?
• 9
  That guy is rich. He has tons of money!
• 10
  Peter has a ton of cash/money since he sold his house
• 11
  to be loaded; to have a lot of money; to be flush with cash
• 12
  to be broke
• 13
  to be broke; lit. to not even have a coin
• 14
  Five English terms to kick out of the French language
• 15
  See the previous post Fake News (below) to learn more about the DGLFLF