French Word-A-Day

ceci et cela

                          A floppy-eared Sunday here at the farm.
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ceci et cela (seuh see ay seuh lah)

    : this 'n that

Audio File: Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the following words
Download MP3 file or Wav file (MP3 not working? Try the Wav file and cross fingers!)

Ceci et cela... ou un peu de tout dans cette édition.
This 'n that... or a little of everything in today's edition. 

Yabla French Video Immersion.
The fun way to learn French

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

It's just one of those mornings where, you know, one doesn't have a plan. It feels creative (anything could happen on this page) and cozy (probably nothing much will). 

I had thought to write a long overdue QFD*, or FAQ page... or to repost a list of stories and let you take your pick:

=> an anecdote about a practical joke: one of the stinkiest things that ever happened to me...

=> or an essay about writer's block... with an excellent idea from Mom!

=> or the short-lived stint as a Girl Friday (after getting kicked out of France)

=> ... and did you all see the favorite recipe for Cake Aux Olives? It's here, just after the story about my neighbor's floor being so clean you could lécher flan off them.  

As for news, I might share my son's satisfaction at advancing in the English language (via the little victories—or the silly ones):

In the car ride home yesterday I asked Max whether he was a country boy or a city boy. "Un campagnard," he concluded. We both looked at the citadine sitting in the back seat, agreeing Jackie is a city girl, to which Max added: "Yes, a SILLY girl!"

Silly aside, one more thing we might talk about today, is that so-called pronunciation mistake (the one I received so many emails about, Friday, after penning the pronunciation guide for "fuzzy dice".

When the complaints began streaming in, I hid under my computer mouse,  mumbling "You've done it again!"

But, like an ostrich who's stuck her head into the sand, so is a writer who's hidden under her mouse: soon to be found out!

Thank goodness our (virtual) resident Francophone Newforest, arrived, in time to put any "elidic" assumptions aside. (Read the comments box to Friday's "fuzzy dice" entry -- for some interesting insights into "liaison"! Click here and scroll to the end of the comments, to Sunday's entries.)

But just for the record (and so I might safely come out from underneath this mouse...): fuzzy dice, or dés en peluche, is indeed pronounced sans liaison! To learn why, don't miss Newforest's handy guide (click that link, above).

 

Le Coin Commentaires (AKA Our Community Corner)
Corrections are always helpful and welcome -- and comments are the best reward for writing these posts. Won't some of you de-lurk (come forth from the shadows) today - in time to voice a simple "Hey!" Click here to leave a message.

 

 USA meet-up with Jean-Marc!: Meet Chief Grape for a fun and delicious wine dinner in Los Angeles at AMMO on March 15th and in many other US cities

French Vocabulary

*QFD questions fréquemment demandées = FAQ, frequently asked questions

 update: thanks, "Leslie in Massachusetts", for this French alternative: FAQ = Foire Aux Questions ("A Question Fair", or Frequently asked Questions)

lécher = to lick

un(e) campagnard(e) = a country (boy, girl)

un(e) citadin(e) = a city (boy, girl)

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Marseilles 1994.

Those looks on the newlyweds faces: an explanation:

1) Victory! (I had just disentangled this "sticky" veil from the church façade... where I had been stuck several minutes, due to a gale wind that had gathered up the sheer material... and pasted it--along with the bride!--to the puckered church exterior!)

2) As for Jean-Marc's nervous look: he had waited.... and waited... and waited for his bride to arrive. And now it looked as if the full reality of martremony (sp? sp?) was hitting him.

I hope you will enjoy the entire story, in the memoir Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France. 

You will also learn about:

    => how & where I met chief Grape

    => why (pourquoi indeed!) he bought me a one-way ticket home-ADIEU!--back to the States!

    => and you'll see a few example of reverse-culture shock, or what returning home to Phoenix used to look like to me. 

Thank you for ordering a copy, here, for yourself or for a friend!

des en peluche

The exact meaning and origin of "fuzzy dice" is unclear, but one theory holds that U.S. pilots in World War II used dice in their cockpits for good luck, and they continued the practice when they came home from the war. (Text & image from Wikipedia)

dés en peluche (day on peh loosh) noun, masculine

    : fuzzy dice
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Audio File: Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words: (Download MP3 file)

dés en peluche. Fuzzy dice... ce sont les dés en peluche suspendus au rear view mirror. Fuzzy dice... they are plush dice suspended from the retrovisor.
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A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

"Trying to Wrestle a Sou Out of You-Know-Who!"

I am wandering aimlessly through an auto-parts store, killing time. I arrived a day late to pick up a repaired pneu, but the man behind the comptoir tells me: ce n'est pas encore prêt.

My eyes travel over to la salle d'attente, where a few aluminum chairs and a stack of curdled car magazines are about as inviting as a baseball dugout. On second thought, I'll roam the field....

I travel up and down the aisles of the auto-parts store, quite unsure of what I'm looking for. I begin to wonder whether this may be, after all, the store's sales strategy:

...when wide-eyed woman comes to collect repaired item... indicate the "waiting room" (pointing out the hard chairs, coffee-cups strewn floor, and sticky motor magazines)... and watch her run for the pricey auto-parts aisles!

The ploy works and before I know it I am shopping for items that have never seen the doodled pages of my shopping list: car tattoos, escape hammers, and fuzzy dice.

Fuzzy dice! They have those here in France?! Suddenly I am transported out of a foreign land of auto parts... and into a universal meeting ground. Though I have never owned a pair, I can somehow (in the vague recesses of my mind) relate to fuzzy dice, or "les dés en peluche". Is it an American thing?... or is it something kitsch (like lava lamps and garden gnomes--which also exist in French homes and gardens)?

I stand for several nostalgic minutes, filled with fuzzy, dicey memories of times past, but in the end the ploy does not work (...though I almost, just almost, buy one of those "head lights": a battery-powered lamp on a hairband. Is it for staring into the car's engine? Or part of a survival strategy? (...to go along with the escape or "life hammer", which, by the way, doubles as a seat-belt scissor in the event of entrapment!!!)
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Anyway, I might have purchased the headband-lamp-majig (and used it to read in bed at night)... had not the man behind the counter shouted "à vous, Madame". Turns out my tire is ready...  

I fix triumphant eyes--batting lashes and all--on the salesmen behind the counter... if theirs was a money-digging ploy... well then it's no dice, les gars! I have all I need today.
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Le Coin Commentaires
Have a correction (in English or in French?). Would you like to respond to today's story -- or share one of your own. Comments are welcome and appreciated. If you like, tell us which city you are writing in from and the local weather in your area! Click to leave a message.

Update: For those of you wondering just what were the rare wines tasted during Monday's visit to Burgundy... check out the answer in the comment's box to that "aviner" edition. (P.S.: don't forget to come back and read the rest of this edition... with photos and a note from my Mom.)

 
French Vocabulary

un sou = a cent (centime)

le pneu = tire (tyre)

le comptoir = counter

ce n'est pas encore prêt = it's not ready yet 

la salle d'attente = the waiting room

à vous, Madame = your turn, ma'am

les gars = guys

Michel Thomas method for learning French: learn at your own speed--listening, speaking, and thinking through the language. Order 10 CD program here. 

"My Boys": Max and Smokey-Doo

For Jules... a new photo of her grandson... 

The following soapbox happens when your mom is a regular in the comments box! My mom, Jules, writes:

Regarding MAX'S day-beau (I know I have slaughtered that word, but spellcheck is dumber than I).

I believe you must have run down to the cellar and stuck the microphone in his face around 6 a.m. demanding his help. He looks shocked and cold and sleepy - what a great sport he is to put up with you.

I, of course being Max's #1 fan, think you should make him a regular on your blog...give him a little warning before you place him in front of 40,000 people and better yet, have a little conversation plus the word.

XOXO

A TYPICAL GRAND-MERE

 *Note: Mom is referring to the video (seen at the end of this post) that Jean-Marc made of Max. And Mom's right: Max was dragged out of bed in time to be pushed in front of the video camera (this, after he swiped my own microphone the day before... making "ideal working conditions" impossible for this fly-by-the-seat-of-her pants publisher!)

Time for another read? Would you like to learn a few more French words, in the process. I hope you'll take a minute to read my story about passing the French Drivers Test!

aviner

I've seen a lot of corks in my day (...), but have never seen them so displayed... picture taken in the village of Nuits St. Georges, in Burgundy.

aviner (ah vee nay)

    : to rinse one's wine glass with wine before sampling another wine

Audio File (no file today... a little mouse ran off with my microphone... ugh, teens and their interactive video games! Update: that little mouse made up for it by making a video tape of today's word and expression. See it at the end of this post. If reading via email, you'll have to click over to the www.french-word-a-day.com blog!)

Example Sentence:

Avant de déguster un nouveau vin, il faut aviner le verre.
Before tasting a new wine, you must rinse your glass. 

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A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

Expensive Spit

Yesterday we were late, late, late, to a very important Burgundian date! "Je déteste être en retard," Jean-Marc admitted, as he circled the car round the block once again in search of the exclusive address. You wouldn't know it by the neighborhood, where clunky cars such as our own were parked (where was the private jet landing and where were the Jaguars?). And the (abandoned) front office--which we would eventually find--with its modest table and chairs, would not give away this vineyard's forte: that of making the rarest wine on the planet.

Found loitering beneath the rain in the parking lot, Jean-Marc and I apologized as we were escorted, dripping wet, down some steep concrete stairs, into the subterranean tasting room. Almost slipping off a step, I was glad to have worn sensible shoes--and not the high heels that I'd wanted to.

Coming out of a dark corridor, rows of dusty bottles behind us, we stood peering into the sacred room, which stood, VIP after VIP, peering back at us!

Jean-Marc and I "sklunked" like thieves into the small stone-vaulted salle de dégustation.  I don't know whether it was our lateness or a feeling of out-of-placeness, whichever, we were very fortunate to take part in this private tasting... having been smuggled into the appointment by a wine writer* and friend.

I watched Jean-Marc kiss Robert, then proceed to greet the others in the group. I followed my husband's example, planting two bisous on our friend's joues... and I kissed the next VIP and the next, quickly changing to handshaking when I realized my gaffe (Jean-Marc had only kissed those he knew, c-à-d, the other wine-makers smuggled in by Robert, characters we'd had the chance to meet last year in Sicily).

From here on we tried to quickly and discreetly blend into the group, which was currently being asked to "aviner". "Pardon me," I eventually asked, wondering whether it was wrong to break the silence... "but what does "aviner" mean?" I could not resist the urge to know this verb.

The man with the houndstooth coat and silk scarf lowered his chin and studied me, his eyes now perched above his glasses: "it means to rinse out your wine glass". 

Robert broke the silence by conjugating the verb and so putting it to practice: "Avinons-nous, everyone?" and with that glasses were rinsed. Because I had no glass to rinse (having turned down the offer to taste the rare wines--I hoped this was not Gaffe Number Three), I stood and watched, awkwardly. That's when Robert handed me his camera. "You seem to know how to take photos," he said with a smile. "Would you like to take a few for me?" What a relief it was to find employment! I set off to capture the event, now feeling very much in my element. 

But when the man in the beautiful coat and the low-lying glasses mentioned: "...photos are for your private collection only..." I nodded obediently. It was dommage to not be able to share these images, but I was grateful, nevertheless, to keep my job! 

Driving home that evening, I couldn't help but ask my husband, Chief Grape, about the rare wines he had tasted: were they really that good? Jean-Marc confirmed that they were.

"Gosh, it must have cost ten bucks a sip!" I pointed out, only to notice the amused look on Jean-Marc's face. "Let's just say that each time a guest spat out the wine into the spittoon, it was like spitting hundred dollar bills!"

"Sans déconner!"" No longer did I wonder about my "missed chance" to taste the exclusive wine. I was just thankful not to have wasted one cent!

 

Postnote: In the car ride home, as Jean-Marc savored the wine, which lingering on his tongue, I was savoring another rare and precious commodity: .... well, maybe more about that later...  

Le Coin Commentaires
Corrections, questions, and comments of your own are welcome in the comments box. Don't be shy, join us in this cosy community corner! Click here to leave a message or to guess where this wine tasting took place! 

 

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References &French Vocabulary

* read about wine writer and friend Robert Camuto, just below...

je déteste être en retard = I hate being late

la salle de dégustation = wine tasting room

bisous = kisses

la joue = cheek

dommage = too bad

sans déconner = no kidding!

c-à-dire (c'est-à-dire) = that is to say

Update! (this just in from Suzanne, a reader): I think deconner comes from the word "con" ... so it's a stronger and more vulgar meaning than "no kidding"! When I was growing up in Cote d'Ivoire, my French mom would have washed my mouth out with soap. I know it's commonly used, I say it all the time, but it's more like " no shit!" . " "Sans blague" or "sans blaguer" is what I would say...but I definitely cracked up when I saw "deconner"!!

 

Anti-Trivia (like antipasti!): Who were the other Sicilian characters in today's story? Find them here:

Ciro Biondi, his beautiful wife Stef, Cristiano Garella (wish I had a link for you!...), and Alberto Graci.

 

And many thanks to Robert Camuto (check out his latest book), for inviting us to join the Sicilians in Burgundy! Robert will begin a USA book tour next month. Don't miss it! Check out this page for details.

 

 

 

In other books: Paris Café by Noel Riley Fitch:

 

In this droll, delicious little volume, Fitch and Tulka provide an affectionate portrait of the Select Cafe, one of those famous Paris eateries that have served as candles to intellectual moths--French, American, and otherwise--for nearly a century.

 

Order a copy and help support this French word journal. Note: once you have entered Amazon feel free to choose any book or product (from books to dog biscuits!). Your purchase of any item will help support this free language journal. Click here to enter Amazon.

This is our 15-year-old, Max. Behind him is one of our cement tanks, where visitors have signed their names :-)