{"id":34276,"date":"2021-11-02T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T04:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34276"},"modified":"2021-10-30T22:54:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T20:54:39","slug":"hugs-kisses-from-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/hugs-kisses-from-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugs & Kisses from France"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole this week after I realized that the French word\u00a0embrasser<\/strong> – which I\u2019ve always known to mean\u00a0kiss<\/em> – literally means\u00a0to take in one\u2019s arms<\/em> (see the word\u00a0bras<\/strong>\/arm<\/em> right there in the word!). And when you dig in a bit, there\u2019s a lot more to hugs & kisses from France than I knew!<\/p>\n

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Photo CC0 from www.pexels.com; Helena Lopes<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Hugs & Kisses from France<\/h3>\n

I come from a family of huggers so it was a shock to land in France the first time and find that hugging isn\u2019t really a thing. Even though they\u2019ve adjusted, it\u2019s still fun all these years later to watch the collision of huggers and kissers when my American family and my French family meet up!<\/p>\n

As Josh shared with us previously<\/a>,\u00a0the typical French greeting involves la bise<\/strong>. They are so \u2018hug averse\u2019 that they don\u2019t even really have a word in French for\u00a0hug<\/em>. Words like\u00a0\u00e9treinte\u00a0<\/strong>are too formal and calin<\/strong> leans more towards\u00a0a snuggle<\/em> or\u00a0a cuddle<\/em>. Though it turns out they do have a word for it \u2026 and it is (or at least it used to be!)\u00a0embrasser<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While in today\u2019s vernacular \u00a0embrasser<\/strong> \u00a0has come to mean\u00a0to kiss<\/em>, it\u2019s original meaning was the same as the English\u00a0embrace<\/em>: to take in one\u2019s arms but as the word baiser<\/strong> shifted over time, the French found themselves in need of a new word to mean\u00a0kiss<\/em>. You see,\u00a0at the time the word for\u00a0to kiss<\/em> was\u00a0baiser<\/strong> (which gives us another term for\u00a0<\/a>a kiss<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>un baiser<\/strong>) but today that word has evolved to mean something much more carnal than a simple meeting of\u00a0les\u00a0l\u00e8vres<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>the lips<\/em><\/span> (While you will hear the word used in many different setting, best to avoid it as a French learner lest you give someone the wrong idea!)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time again<\/h3>\n

Que vous soyez pour ou contre, c\u2019est encore la fin de l\u2019heure d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9<\/a>. Dans la nuit du samedi 30 octobre au dimanche 31 octobre les fran\u00e7ais ont pu profiter d\u2019une heure de sommeil suppl\u00e9mentaire.<\/strong>2<\/a><\/sup>Whether you\u2019re for it or against it, it\u2019s time again for the end of daylight savings time<\/i> (lit. summer time<\/em>). During the night of Saturday October 30th to Sunday October 31st<\/em>,\u00a0French were able to take advantage of an extra hour of sleep.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If, like some of the people in this video<\/a>,<\/span> you<\/span> struggle to remember which way to change the clocks, you can always count on this little \u2018rhyme\u2019 which my Aunt Rose shared with me<\/a>: <\/span>En octob<\/span>re<\/span><\/em><\/span> on<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>re<\/span><\/em><\/span>cule. En<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>av<\/span><\/em><\/span>ril on<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>av<\/span><\/em><\/span>ance.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>In October \u201cfall back\u201d. In April, \u201cspring ahead\u201d.)3<\/a><\/sup>\u2026 though it isn\u2019t quite the same now that we change the clocks in November (novembre<\/em>) and March (mars<\/em>).<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

A little good news<\/h3>\n

I love the fall, but it\u2019s been gray and rainy for the past week. Searching for a little good news, I came across this song from Flavia Coelho<\/a>, a Brazilian singer living and performing in France. I hope this\u00a0bonne nouvelle<\/em> will lift your spirits as it did mine.<\/p>\n