French Word-A-Day

scoumoune

We've seen this turkey, er, pigeon, before, and we're bringing him back to illustrate today's fun-to-pronounce French word... read on and/or share your favorite French words in the comments box.

    Note: The next post will go out on November 2nd! 

la scoumoune (skoo moon)

    : tough or rotten luck, mischance
 

Audio File: listen to "scoumoune": Download MP3 or Wav file

Oh là là! Aujourd'hui c'est la scoumoune!
Today we're having bad luck! 

Yabla French Video Immersion.
The fun way to learn French

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

Outwitting Bad Luck

Yesterday, nearing the end of my final visit to the local nurses' station, les infirmières and I had a good guffaw at la technologie: that ever-advancing entity that allows you to cut out the middleman (in this case, the secretary and the accountant) and to be your own boss! ...that is, when technology isn't the boss of you....

Re technology, the time had come to regler, or to account for, the ten "bandage" visits, so I pulled out my handy dandy Carte Vitale: a plastic card that resembles a credit card and that is sort of used like one... only, instead of paying for groceries or clothing or gasoline or conneries with it... one pays for medicine and doctor visits.

One of the nurses took my health card and inserted it into a handheld accounting machine, or sabot (similar to the ones you see at French restaurants, when the serveur returns to your table with the dreaded addition). 

I listened as the nurse read the tiny screen on the card machine: "Carte muette...." It seemed that the tiny puce, or digital-information chip (see gold-squared example, above), was illisible. This happens when the card is scratched (i.e., by loose change in the cardholder's porte-monnaie) or when dust has collected in the shallow crevices of the puce.... or when your wife uses the card to scratch ice off her automobile's windshield, in winter.

When the machine refused to comply, the nurse yanked out the card, stared at it, and reinserted it into the thin card slot. "On recommence..." "We'll try again," she explained.

"Carte muette," she repeated. I looked over at the other nurse, who had sat down in the chair beside mine, in time to go over her busy schedule for the day. "Essaie l'autre." "Try the other," this nurse hinted, pointing to her own sabot (each nurse has a portable machine, which is handy for registering information during house calls, for those patients who are treated offsite).

When the second machine balked, the card was retrieved just as abruptly. This time friction was used! Rubbing the card against her jeans I recognized the nurse's resorting to a popular "anti-muette" technique used by doctors and pharmacists and other health-care workers turned temporary accountants. It is always amusing to watch these professionals get down to "The Jeans and Sleeves technique". Only, just as predicted, when the jeans didn't do the trick, the card was slapped against Nurse's shirtsleeve and swiftly refrictioned against the soft cotton there.  

"Ah là là! C'est la scoumoune!" the nurse vented, as we waited for the results of this latest attempt to outwit the card or the card reader. Only, la scoumoune? I may be superstitious, but wasn't that a bit risky to mention "bad luck" whilst we were smack in the middle of it?

Superstition and paranoia aside, I had simply forgotten an important mathematical law: multiply two negatives and you get a positive! My eyes looked over, expectantly, to that petite, persnickety machine when, Shazam!, just like that it engaged (and very unceremoniously so: a few "coughs" and a buzzing sound signaled the connection). And mine was the chance to witness, firsthand, the mystery of universal laws and equations... or, simply, less astoundingly, the hiccups of modern technology.

 

Le Coin Commentaires

Corrections, comments, and stories of your own are welcome here, in the comments box.

Thank you for reading! We'll be back on November 2nd with more stories and photos from a French life... 'See you' then :-)

 

French Vocabulary

regler = to pay

la carte vitale = French national insurance card

les conneries (f) (! = term is a bit vulgar) = non-essentials, damned stupidities

le sabot = handheld machine, used for swiping a credit card (note: un sabot is a clog or wooden shoe. These little card machines get their name from the fact that they are similar in size to a "sabot", or clog.

le serveur = waiter

l'addition = bill, check (l'addition, s'il vous plaît = check, please!)

carte muette = silent card (note: une carte muette is also a menu without prices (given to dates or guests) 

la puce électronique = microchip

illisible = unreadable

essaie l'autre = try the other

 

Thank you for visiting our sponsors!

PROVENCE: Spectacular hilltop wine village home for rent. Designer renovation, modern amenities, amazing views. Accommodates 2-3 couples.

LES PORTES TORDUES (The Twisted Doors): The Scariest Way in the World to Learn and Listen to French! Check it out (if you dare).

Rent one of the most exquisite apartments in Paris this November & January.    Receive a 15% discount when you mention French Word-A-Day.

 

Chief Grape and his briefcase. That's my beautiful husband, left, somewhere in Sicily. Voilà, now that I've got your attention... do you have a minute for another story? Please read "Over The Rainbow, Bluebirds Fly" - about the little swallow that was saved, last spring, on our farm.

***

When you buy any item at Amazon, entering the store via the following links, your purchase helps to support this free word journal!

Herbes de Provence in a handy grinder. A special blend found in country kitchen in the South of France. Click here to order the 3-pack for under $10

Exercises in French Phonics " a great book for learning French pronunciation" Order your copy here.

I Heart Paris Shopper: made of recycled material

Tune Up Your French: Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Spoken French

 

draguer

"Alternative Blackboard" (seen yesterday, in Avignon). Alternative. I love the word, ever since discovering alternative music back in high school, thanks to the guy for whom I ditched the prom (we listened to The Smiths, instead). The following story (not about the guy or ditching) was written a few years ago... it's called Beauty and the Buck and it's simply an alternative to the story column below, or part 5 (or 6?) of The Hospital Chronicles... I just hope you'll read the example sentence, below, which may spark your interest for the story that follows!

  
France and Monaco Rentals. 
Exclusive Vacation Rental Properties throughout France.

 

draguer (drah-gay)

: to hit on someone, to make a pass

draguer en voiture = to go cruising for chicks or guys
draguer dans les boîtes =  to cruise nightclubs
se faire draguer par une fille/un garcon = to get hit on by a girl/a guy

Audio File & Example Sentence: Download MP3 or Wav file

Au retour de l'hôpital, on a dragué mon ambulancière!
On the way home from the hospital, my ambulance driver got hit on! 

 

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

Let Beauty Transport You

You have met almost all of the characters that I encountered at the hospital in Avignon. But I haven't yet told you about Camille (kah-mee). Lovely, lead-footed Camille, the ambulancière who came to collect me after chirurgie and recovery.

Camille wasn't as playful as High Heeled Simone or as sure-footed as Nurse Swagger. She was certainly as trusting as L'Infirmière-Trianglist, but without the chutzpah we witnessed in Madonna of the Gurney. We won't compare her to my surgeon, whom we have not read about... though she is even younger than he. (Come to think of it, that makes me sound old, but that couldn't be, for, as The Gut Doctor said: "We don't typically see patients as young as you...")

Young Camille arrived on time. It was I that was running behind and I wasn't so much running as I was sleeping... until a nurse, whom I had not seen before, threw open the door. "Madame Espinasse. Mais! Vous n'êtes pas encore prête?!" 

I looked down at such unprêtedness, which was written all over my paper-clad body (still dressed in the ink-blue hospital gown). And then it hit me: I had fallen back to sleep after the snack that Infirmière-Triangliste had given me. 

I sat up so fast that my head began to spin. "Doucement!" the nurse warned. Looking past her I noticed my first guest, which turned out to be the driver who had come to take me home. I waved excitedly. "Prenez votre temps," the driver said, greeting me.

I dressed quickly in the tiny bathroom and, when I could no longer resist, I looked into the mirror... That is when I realized our dilemma!: how to get from the hospital room to the car without showing the Hideous Surgical Wound--the one which was glaring back, from the middle of my forehead, from behind the see-through surgical glue! The shock of seeing the visible wound was quickly replaced by the stress in trying to figure out how to hide it from the innocent bystanders whom I might pass on my way to the car. I had no scarf, no hat, no fringe, or bangs, to cover the unsightly area. In a desperate effort to conceal the frightful wound, I gathered a long lock of hair from the right side of my head... and swung it round, and over to the left side, just as I had seen men of a certain age do... only the result was absurd.

Conscious that my driver was still waiting, I grabbed my things and, using my hand to cover my forehead, I quickly followed l'ambulancière out to the car, passing only a few accidental gawkers along the way.

Once in the car, in the front seat, I struck up a conversation with the driver, not willing to let my mind linger on the image I had seen in the mirror.

"Ceci c'est une ambulance?" I began... Camille corrected me. This was a spiffy VSL, or véhicule sanitaire léger--a kind of medical transport used for patients who can sit up. I realized how lucky I was that our insurance covered part of this transport from the hospital to our home, 40 minutes north--for we were smack in the middle of the harvest (Chief Grape couldn't pick me up) and, though it was very kind of her to offer, I didn't want Aunt Marie-Françoise to have to leave work early, to fetch me.

I was grateful for my chatty conductrice, whom I tried to listen to for the duration of the drive. I learned that Driver Camille has seven cats, still lives with her mom, has just passed her ambulance-driver's exam (...!), lives in a nearby village, would like to learn English, loves her job and especially her clients! This next-to-last point was illustrated by the way she weaved in and out of traffic while holding an ongoing dialogue with her dizzy passenger. In this way, Camille managed to take my mind off more than my wound (thoughts of which were simply replaced by thoughts on mortality as we spun past sports cars and sandwiched in between semi-trucks, while exiting the freeway...)

Veering off the autoroute, via the exit ramp, I noticed two sets of ogling eyes in the truck beside us. "Regardez!" I said to Camille. "Oh look! You have a couple of admirers!"

Camille looked surprised, until I set things straight: "Well, they sure aren't waving at me!" And, zut, if that wasn't the wrong thing to say. It would only put Camille in the awkward position of having make excuses for her good looks, the ones she was just becoming aware of.

But, true to her outer beauty, she managed to react with grace. "I have never had this happen to me before," she giggled, looking back at the fan club who were now disappearing into the horizon as we exited the freeway. I took my eyes off the fans and refocused them, as if for the first time, on the lovely brunette whose job it was to transport me. I admired her fresh beauty, and I sensed her naïveté. I thought about the long road ahead of her, in which there would be, among joy, hurts, disappointments, fears. But naïveté can also be a wonderful quality, and, along with that lead foot (I had to check my seat belt once again), it will help her over life's hurdles... now if our darling driver would only mind the speed bumps a bit, for a smoother ride for both of us! 

***
Le Coin Commentaires
Corrections, comments, and stories of your own are welcome in the comments box. 

 

The classic Bescherelle, the complete guide to French verb conjugation. Read the five-star reviews, and order, here.

French Vocabulary

ambulancier, ambulancière = ambulance driver

la chirurgie = surgery

mais! vous n'êtes pas encore prête? = But! You aren't ready yet?

doucement = take it easy

prenez votre temps = take your time

ceci c'est une ambulance? = this is an ambulance?

la conductrice (le conducteur) = driver

zut! = damn!

 

Thank you for visiting today's sponsors:

Provence Dreamin'? Maison des Pelerins, Sablet. A Vacation Rental Dream in the heart of the Côte du Rhone.

 

It's been over five weeks since my surgery. I went to the doctor's office, yesterday, to have another look beneath my bandage. Though I'm still nervous about what I saw, I'm keeping my hopes up. Meantime, I took a stroll through Avignon, post doctor visit, and came across this philosophical writing on the wall. The chalked-up words read: Garder le moral si possible (Keep your chin up, if possible), son âme à l'equilibre (and keep your soul balanced). The next tip I found particularly helpful: "Le truc c'est de pas y penser" (the thing is not to think about it). 

When you buy any item at Amazon, using the following links to enter the store, your purchase helps support this free French word journal. Thanks for keeping this in mind!

 

   Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France "Beginning students of conversational French will profit from many of these brief entries, and supplemental tables of expressions go far to demystify French idioms for anyone wishing to speak and write more fluent French." -- Mark Knoblauch

  French music, or passive language learning... Relax back and listen to these vocab-rich songs. Order this "Paris" compilation. 

   
Exercises in French Phonics is... 
" a great book for learning French pronunciation"
"useful and practical"
"high quality material, good value for your money" --from Amazon customer reviews. Order your copy here.

chatier

"The Rooster Thief". The French sure have a way with window drama, as seen here (see the full photo, below). Today, read about an American chick in a French autoparts store... or try your luck... with the anecdote on offer in the following story column!

Please forward today's post to a dog lover or a wine lover or a France lover! Thanks!

Yabla French Video Immersion.
The fun way to learn French

châtier (sha-tee-yay)

    : to punish, chastise

Also:
châtié = polished (verse, style)
le châtiment corporel = corporal punishment 

Audio File: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these words: Download MP3 or Wav file

Qui aime bien châtie bien.
Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Books, books, books! There are 12 or 13 rotating "book shelves" at the French Word-A-Day blog. Check out the current selection of French-themed reading, in the side-columns of the blog, here.
. 

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

Ain't Misbehavin!

Since the harvesters returned home, Jean-Marc has worked long days in the cellar, all on his own, but by the way he argues with the barrels and the vats and the wine--you'd think he was in good company!

I sometimes hear him, through the thick, 300-year-old walls that separate our home from the cave, as he hollers after those grapes! And I have to laugh, thinking of that favorite proverb of his: Qui aime bien châtie bien, or "Who loves well punishes well". Ouch, that does not sound like a good translation: how about this one: "Spare the rod, spoil the child"?

While Chief Grape has been busy disciplining his wine (and, by the way, did you notice that the last three letters in "misbehaVIN'" = "wine" in French? Enough said)... Yes, while Chief Grape is keeping his wine in line, Smokey is discovering what the harvesters have left behind. In addition to gâteaux and vêtements and chausseurs (we'll add them to The Glad Rags Bag!), there was this chapeau!...  

Smokey says: Thank you, Caroline, for this hammy-down! (Caroline was this year's harvest queen. See her photo, below). By the way, Smokey would like to add, "Did you see my mom in the background? Elle s'ennuie! = She's bored!"

Tattered chairs and tattered tongues. 

Chut! Shhh! Don't tell Chief Grape where I am... Discipline is for grapes, not Goldens!

Smokey says: "Even dogs have scars!" Most of you have read about Smokey's accident in 2009, when, as a two-month-old he was attacked by two big dogs.... Don't want to read about that? Then read about my parents "Great Escape": the story of Sailor Sam and Braise's honeymoon.

Le Coin Commentaires

Comments, corrections, and stories of your own are welcome here, in the comments box.

 

French Vocabulary

la cave = wine cellar

qui aime bien châtie bien = spare the rod and spoil the child

le gâteau = cake

le vêtement (les vêtements) = garment (clothing) 

la chaussure = shoe

elle s'ennuie = she's bored

chut! = shhh!

*Zee End: Au Revoir just now...* 

End Note: When you buy any item at Amazon, using the following links to enter the store, your purchase helps support this free French word journal. Thanks for keeping this in mind!

French-themed pin cushion...with wonderful typography on the back! A perfect gift at under $20! Click here to order this or another item via this link.

 

Une dragée = sugared almond. At every celebration (weddings, baptisms... ) these traditional French Almond Dragées are gobbled down by even the slenderest femme fatale (by the way, did you read my femme fatale story... about the ex-girlfriend that showed up at my wedding? Don't miss that one, click here! Even better when read while munching these dragées. Order the almond dragées or any other item, via this link. 

  Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France (My book! Dreams do come true!) "Beginning students of conversational French will profit from many of these brief entries, and supplemental tables of expressions go far to demystify French idioms for anyone wishing to speak and write more fluent French." -- Mark Knoblauch Tip: read the 10-page intro to this book... and learn about why Jean-Marc bought me a one-way ticket-along the lines of It's over, Baby!--back to the States!. 

 

Photo taken last August, in Serre Chevalier, in Monêtier-les-Bains... (near Briançon)

Every year, Chief Grape takes time out from the busy harvest to make these leafy crowns for his harvest "hot shots" (those vendangeurs and vendangeuses who really shine among the vines!). He also makes the diplomas, like the one Caroline is holding. He really is proud of his entire team and it is never easy for him to have to choose a harvest king or queen. Félicitations, Caroline, for earning this year's leafy trophy! (To see our harvest king, click here and scroll to the end of the page.)