{"id":34440,"date":"2022-02-01T05:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T04:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34440"},"modified":"2022-01-29T19:29:35","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T18:29:35","slug":"get-cozy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/get-cozy\/","title":{"rendered":"Get cozy"},"content":{"rendered":"

February may be the shortest month (thank goodness!) and meteorological<\/a> spring might be just 28 days away, but with its cieux gris<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>grey skies<\/em><\/span>, neige<\/strong>2<\/a><\/sup>snow<\/em><\/span>, and froid<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>cold<\/em><\/span>, it can feel like the longest! For me, there is no better month to get cozy than f\u00e9vrier<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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Photo CCo from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00c7a caille toujours \u2026<\/h3>\n

The weather hasn\u2019t gotten any warmer since DjeuhDhoah & Lieutenant Nicholson introduced us to a new way to talk about the cold in French\u00a0via a little Brazilian detour<\/a>. C\u2019est un temps\u00a0\u00e0 rester chez soi, bien au chaud, avec un bon livre<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>It\u2019s the kind of weather for staying home, nice and warm, with a good book<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, the Danish concept of hygge<\/a> had a moment<\/em>, as they say. I\u2019ve never come across an exact French equivalent, but when le mistral<\/strong> blows en Provence, la pluie tombe en Bretagne<\/strong>5<\/a><\/sup>the rain falls in Brittany<\/em><\/span>, or il neige dans les Vosges, les Alpes, ou les<\/strong> Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es<\/strong>6<\/a><\/sup>or it snows in the Vosges, Alps, or Pyrenees mountains<\/em><\/span>\u2026 it\u2019s time to get cozy.<\/p>\n

This site from Denmark<\/a> equates hygge<\/em> with intimit\u00e9<\/strong>7<\/a><\/sup>intimacy<\/em><\/span> \u201cEssentiellement, hygge<\/em> signifie cr\u00e9er une atmosph\u00e8re chaleureuse et profiter des belles choses de la vie avec les personnes que l\u2019on aime<\/strong>.\u201d8<\/a><\/sup>Essentially, hygge means to create a warm ambiance and to take advantage of those wonderful parts of life with people that we love<\/em><\/span> This article from LaPress+<\/a> agrees, at least in part, with the idea of hygge<\/em> as cozy<\/em> (in English) but more with\u00a0conviviality<\/em>: \u201cLe hygge<\/span> est davantage un sentiment partag\u00e9 avec sa famille et ses amis, alors que le cocooning fait plut\u00f4t r\u00e9f\u00e9rence \u00e0 un moment de repos plus solitaire, avec un bon livre, par exemple<\/strong>\u201d9<\/a><\/sup>Hygge is more a feeling shared with family and friends, while \u2018cocooning\u2019 refers more to a solitary moment of rest, with a good book, for example<\/em><\/span>.<\/div>\n

Pantouflard<\/h3>\n

As I said, and as the two articles cited above confirm, there isn\u2019t really a French equivalent of\u00a0hygge<\/em> –\u00a0<\/em>at least not any that conveys both\u00a0cozy\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0convivial.<\/em> 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\u2019t feel like going out) and that word is\u00a0pantouflard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Like\u00a0hygge<\/em>\u00a0in French, there isn\u2019t really a good English equivalent for\u00a0pantouflard<\/strong>\u00a0in English. It comes from the word\u00a0pantoufle<\/strong> \/\u00a0slipper\u00a0<\/em>and refers to a person (or a state of mind\/mood) for staying in your slippers all day, not doing much, and just being.<\/p>\n

Un temps pantouflard<\/strong>10<\/a><\/sup>A cozy day<\/em><\/span> for me is the perfect time to curl up in chair with a good book. In French, to curl up<\/em> or\u00a0to wrap up in<\/em> is expressed by the verb\u00a0se lover<\/strong>. This is a term that has taken me years to figure out \u2026 I think mostly because I could never quite get my brain to let go of the word\u00a0love<\/em> stuck in the middle there! One can\u00a0se lover dans un fauteuil, se lover dans les bras de quelqu\u2019un, ou se lover dans un lit comfortable<\/strong>.11<\/a><\/sup>curl up in a armchair, wrap yourself in someone\u2019s arms, our curl up in a comfortable bed<\/em><\/span> Se lover<\/strong> can also be used to mean\u00a0to coil<\/em> as in\u00a0un serpent qui se love<\/strong>12<\/a><\/sup>a snake coiling itself up<\/em><\/span> or\u00a0une corde bien lov\u00e9e<\/strong>13<\/a><\/sup>a rope well coiled<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The song below, from French singer \u00c9tienne Daho<\/a>, was my first introduction to the word \u2026 and is a great, catchy tune. I hope you like it!<\/div>\n

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