ronfler

Today's totally off topic photo - taken in Mirabel-aux-Baronnies.

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ronfler (ron-flay) verb
  to snore, to purr (engine)
  to roar, to boom

Verb conjugation: je ronfle, tu ronfles, il/elle ronfle, nous ronflons, vous ronflez, ils/elles ronflent  => past participle = ronflé

Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce today's French word and read the following quote: Download ronfler.mp3 .Download ronfler.wav

On s'aperçoit qu'on aime quelqu'un quand on trouve à ses ronflements quelque chose de musical, de tendre, de céleste. We realize that we love someone when we find in his snoring something musical, tender, celestial. --Jean Chalon

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Tomorrow morning my husband, the kids, and I fly west over the Atlantic, across the East Coast and over to the wild west, mille mercis* to Sandy.*

If you are a wild westerner, then I hope to see you at one of the book/wine events* that we have organized. If you should see me, you may notice the wrinkles along the lower left side of my face: pillow impressions, those are, from the bed linens pressing into my jowl. I can explain...

Each night my husband talks in his sleep. This, of all things, is what he says:
"Chérie, tu ronfles." ("Darling, you are snoring.")

"Je suis désolée,"* I say, just to appease him, for everyone knows you can't reason with a sleep talker. To reassure my husband that peace will return, I roll over to my left side as one who snores might.

If his sleep talking continues, with his indefatigable "Chérie, tu ronfles. Darling, you are snoring," we may have resort to what the French call "chambre à part," that is: sleeping in separate rooms -- for I am worn out by his three-word repetitive phrase.

Meantime, as you can sympathize, it is an exercise in patience for me to sleep beside a man who babbles night after night after night: "Chérie, tu ronfles. Darling, you are snoring." Enough! The next time my husband says "Chérie, tu ronfles," I've a mind to answer back, "Chéri, tu REVES!"* Maybe IN HIS DREAMS he hears me snore. God knows *I* don't hear me snore. Which gets me thinking...

They do say that ronfleurs* cannot hear their own ronflements*... I wonder whether I should go on faith with this one, you know: believe in something that I cannot perceive. Then again, I remember this bit of scripture* that my mom taught me:

"Ainsi la foi vient de ce qu'on entend." Faith comes by hearing.

So if I can't hear, then how am I supposed to have faith? If "la foi vient de ce qu'on entend" then how can I be sure that Jean-Marc is telling the truth about my snoring?

Enough! Let's not lose track of the facts: my husband talks in his sleep, never mind if his nighttime vocabulary is all of three words: Chérie, tu ronfles. I wonder why HE cannot hear HIMSELF? (So busy, I suppose, is he hearing ME "snore"!).

Still... I admit to a phobia of falling asleep in an airplane. I fear that my mouth might drop open, as my head nods off, this followed by a powerful vibration that has nothing to do with air turbulence OUTSIDE the plane.

So, just in case you happen to be on the same flight as I, and you, like Jean-Marc, are a sleep talker, maybe we can work something out. At the first sign of cabin turbulence, just look over at me and say: "Chérie, tu ronfles." As for me, I'll "roll over" to my side, roll my eyes, and whisper, "in your dreams!" If you don't hear my response, you can be sure that you are sound asleep and at peace (and I can be sure that I have stopped "snoring"). That, somehow, settles that.

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References: mille mercis = a thousand thanks; Sandy = see her travel blog; event (click here for more info; je suis désolée = I am sorry; Chéri, tu rêves! = Darling, you're dreaming!; le ronfleur (la ronfleuse) = snorer; le ronflement = snoring; scripture = Romans 10:17

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