January is doing what January does. Days may be getting longer, but the holidays are behind us, le ciel est gris, et il fait froid¹the skies are grey, and it is cold. For those of you, like me, who are tired of the cold and grey, here’s a fun little virtual escape in the form of a song from.

Photo CC0 from Ata Ebem at www.pexels.com

Ça caille …

Il fait froid, il fait frisquet, ça pelle²Meaning it is so cold that your skin is peeling off!, ça caille … these are all ways in French to say ‘it’s cold’! While the first one is the official/correct one, the last one is my favorite.

According to numerous sites including this one and this one, it comes from the verb cailler which means to curdle (like milk) or to clot (like blood). “Ça caille!” is the perfect expression for when it is so cold you think your blood might freeze!

The Parisian duo DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson whom we last met singing about global warming have crafted another fun weather-related song based on the similarities in sound between ‘caille’ and the first part of Brazil’s most famous cocktail the caipirinha.

Happy Birthday

January 15th was the 400th anniversary of the birth of France’s answer to Shakespeare. With 33 pièces⁵plays translated into more than 100 languages (featuring 372 personages⁶characters) and selling more than 500,000 copies a year, Molière is second only to Guy de Maupassant among classical French authors.

”Dramaturge, mais aussi comédien, il incarnera d’ailleurs lui-même pus de 32 rôles. En 1908, Molière est pour la première fois adapté au cinéma par Georges Méliès… Depuis, près de 50 films ont été tirés de son œuvre.”⁷Author, but also actor, he interpreted over 32 roles himself. In 1908, a Molière play was first adapted for the cinema by Georges Méliès. Since then, over 50 films have been made from his works

French Music – Bénabar

• 1
  the skies are grey, and it is cold
• 2
  Meaning it is so cold that your skin is peeling off!
• 3
  A play on un fait divers / annecdote
• 4
  Or sans chapeau d’paille
• 5
  plays
• 6
  characters
• 7
  Author, but also actor, he interpreted over 32 roles himself. In 1908, a Molière play was first adapted for the cinema by Georges Méliès. Since then, over 50 films have been made from his works