pressé

 
Today's story takes place in this cheese shop, in Pernes-les-Fontaines. More photos here.

pressé (preh-say) adj & past participle (presser)

    : hurried; urgent

être pressé de partir = to be in a hurry to leave
c'est pressé? = is it urgent?

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A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse
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In the town of Pernes-les-Fontaines we were pressed—pressed! pressed! pressed! for time.  At least this was the signal that I was getting from the man motioning to me from outside of the fromagerie....

There stood my husband, arms flapping in frustration. He was impatient to get to our gîte on time to cook lunch for friends; he had pintade, olives, les tomates séchées, pâté, and wine waiting in the car for our weekend getaway. All he needed now was his willful wife, who was standing her ground in the cheese shop.

"Pfft!" puffed the willful wife. "Ça lui apprendra la patience! This'll be a good lesson in patience for him!" I mumbled to the others in line and my blase remark covered up the eager-to-please partner inside of me: truth is, I hate to make my husband wait.

When next I looked out the window, my itching-to-go époux was throwing both arms up to the sky in one illustrative example of impatience.

"Just look the other way," the man in line behind me suggested with a snicker. The others in line agreed, in one cheesy conspiracy: "Oui. Ne le regardez pas," they giggled.

I followed the man's magical "turn your head away" tip and, just like that—in one abracadabrant POOF!—all of my soucis left me (though I can't say the same for the married man with flailing hands standing outside of the fromagerie...).

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Le Coin Commentaires
Have your say about today's French word of the day or comment on the story.

***

Meet-ups: We'd LOVE to see you!

Kristin will be in Paris on March 1st at Shakespeare and Company (Talk begins at 7 p.m.)

Jean-Marc will be in Washington DC next month and elsewhere in the States... meet him!

French Vocabulary and Sound File: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words: Download Audio clip

Ne le fais pas attendre. Il est très pressé!
Don't make him wait. He's in a big hurry!

la fromagerie = cheese dairy, cheese shop
la pintade = a pheasantlike bird, a type of guinea fowl
la tomate séchée = sundried tomato
pfft or pfut (exclamation) = bah!
ça lui apprendra la patience! = that'll teach him patience!
un époux = husband
Oui. Ne le regarde pas! = Yes. Don't look at him!
abracadabrant(e) adj = fantastic
un souci = worryube, or dice. Its name is said to come from the game of jacks, or osselets which was called berlingaù in Provençal.

 

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A Day in a Dog's Life by Smokey "R" Dokey
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Back when we were six weeks old (photo taken in October). Two sisters are missing from this photo (they were playing with their puppy dolls (having a tea party) on the front patio.

Hello Friends,

Just a flashback for you today. See here my sisters and myself (the goodlooking guy to the left). It may seem as if my team is losing. In fact, I am practicing my first steps as a gallant Gaul—letting my big sister win (lest she sit on me, chew my ear, and trot of with a grin!)

Love,
The Smokester

If you enjoy my doggy column (or "Grandma K's" Day in a Life) then please forward this post to a friend!

Comments

[William Stein]

I note that Jean-Marc resists liaisons. Today he didn't link "pas attendre." A few days ago it was "les fenêtres insolites." Your thoughts?

[Eileen]

Hi Kristin,
I love your story! I laughed so hard when the man in the cheese shop told you to "just look the other way."

[candy]

Hi Kristin,

I have 2 French questions for you:

Did the strangers in the store really use the tu form? (Seems reasonable, as they sort of became your allies, didn't they?)

How do you say 'look the other way'?

Thanks,
Candy

[Kristin]

Hi William, Good question. Let's ask Mr. Impatient (hehehe) about those unvoiced liasons. I'll forward him your note.

Eileen, great to get your giggly feedback. Thank you!

Candy, Whoops. The "tu" sous-entendu was a mistake. I've corrected things (I think...) to "regardeZ". Merci. As for what the man said for "look the other way": "ne le regardez pas!" or "tournez-vous la tête, comme ça vous le verrez pas" (something like that.)

[Patricia Anzalone]

Wonderful advice for a woman, whether a wife or not! I'll remember when my Italian husband is throwing his hands up for whatever reason, and just look the other way!
Always enjoying Smokey and his mom and siblings!
Patricia still in snowed-under northwestern Virginia. Don't think we'll see the ground til April!

[Kristine, Dallas]

I love this picture (and the story) as nothing to me is better than meat and cheese...but especially cheese. I truly wanted to jump thru picture and into the shop.

And I think it is too funny as well that the little man said "just look away"...obviously never married or married forever!

Bon Journee!

[NJEpouse]

Another helpful expression: il me presse de te revoir.

I can't wait to see you again.

[Sharon]

I too hate to make my husband wait, but I would love to have been there to see the arm waving! Thank you for the humorous visual, it gave me a good chuckle.
I love your antidotes!

[Brian]

What about a citron pressé, that excellent warm weather drink that only the French seem to make?

[Douglas]

Kristin, I mean Bugs, I mean Kristin - I laughed so hard I got the hiccups for the first time in a decade. As I jokingly say to my brother-in-law, 'It's all about control Bob, ALLLLL about control.' Why does Yosemite Sam come to mind, I wonder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOUhGcsHqDM

[Mona]

I love charcuteries and if there was one close to us I would be spending a lot of time in there.
I think impatience is a husband disease. Mine suffers from it and so what...qu'est-ce que je peux faire except ignorer!
Smokester is a cutie and so lovely of him to share childhood photos!

xox a tous!

[Kristin]

Brian, glad to have "le citron pressé!" Cheers!

Douglas, just enjoyed the BB episode. (BTW, I *wish* I was as cool-mannered as Bugs--with none of that "Yosemite Sam" flaring up from time to time!)

[Marianne Rankin]

I don't like waiting, as in a line at the grocery or bank, so I always have something to read with me. I don't like to keep people waiting, either. More often, they keep me waiting. But it's good not to let ourselves get too hung up on going fast. This past week, when getting out of the house at all was a challenge because of the snow, and we had LOOONG waits in traffic because not all lanes in roads were open, I took a closer look at houses I had usually zoomed past; they were interesting.

Today I signed up for the D.C. wine events. Il me presse de faire la conaissance de Jean-Marc en personne, et d'enfin gouter vos vins!

[Matt Mahon]

HI kristin, Je connais what it is etre un epoux attendant (?) au face une fromagerie. I also would wave my arms. Vive Jean-Marc. Regards, Matt

[Candy in SW KS]

I too, being a visual person, am picturing the entire scenario. JM outside throwing hands in the air, you inside trying to look inconspicuous while all the time people around you are wondering who is that "homme si presse" outside. And then giving you such great advice! C'est chouette, ca! You know, the first thing I noticed in your picture was the mouse holding the sign! And THEN I saw that it was a fromagerie! How very "Tom and Jerry" (to use another cartoon reference - and to rhyme like Kristin!) A beautiful sunny day in the 50s in SW KS. But I'm headed to CO tomorrow and I think they will be having snow. That's OK with me - snow always looks better on the mountains! :)

[Missy]

By the time I got to him having both arms in the air I was laughing so hard I had to read the rest with a hankie in hand-I love when people show such vigor in/for life!
(both inside and outside the shop).
Again, I can relate, but with us its me being animated and him standing his ground :)

[Pat Cargill]

I, too, signed up for the DC wine events--looking forward to meeting the arm-waving epoux of this blog--and tasting the wines. Thanks for the Smokey pics - always a bright spot in the day.

[Bill Facker]

K - I can assure you the arm waving was nothing compared to silent "mind murmers" J-M was expressing to himself. Sometimes the love of a man is shown by what he doesn't express. We just weren't "built" to wait. Jean-Marc, I understand ..... James Brown said it best - "This is a man's world .. but it wouldn't be nothin' without a woman" .... so we wait ... and murmer ... and mumble .. and continue amuse others outside Bakeries ... sigh. Aloha All! Beautiful on Kauai today!

[Stacy, Applegate, Oregon]

Thank you for sharing stories which encourage laughter, smiles, sighs and tears...and sharing Mr. Smokey too. I love it all, dear Kristi! Still smiling here in sunny, unseasonably warm 63 degrees!

[Debbie Wilson, Brisbane Australia]

Bonjour Kristin. This is my first time commenting on your wonderful stories. I truly loved this little antedote. Nice to know men are all the same whether in France or in Australia - my husband would be doing EXACTLY the same thing! But how I love the French....so theatrical...just like the fantastic French snowboarders at the Olympics with their painted on moustaches whom I saw on the TV this morning. Keep it up...I so look forward to a little bit of French life each day...so different from life here in Australia! Cheers Debbie

[Bill Facker]

and continue TO amuse ... I hate when I do that!!!! :)

[Jan]

So what's your favorite cheese? How many kinds did you buy?
J'adore le fromage Francais!

[Linda Chandler]

Ah, Smokey, I remember that not-so-long-ago game of tir à la corde with your siblings. It was one of the best puppy picture postings ever. Your faithful admirer, Linda in AZ

[Buffy]

I love the picture's of the puppies! They grow up too fast. We were just remembering when our husky was a puppy; how small and cute is was. By the way, he loves this snow we have!

[Newforest]

When you are “très pressé” because events and people push you around, forcing you to hurry up, and on the top of that, you are getting worried because your husband is even more desperately “pressé” than you, I understand that having to join a queue in a shop must feel like a nightmare for both. Seeing your husband's gestures outside the shop window, expressing so vividly his impatience doesn't help.

Oh!, you, the jolly good-humoured people of Pernes-les-Fontaines, you said the magic words to that desperate wife stuck in the queue, eyes fixed on her impatient husband outside.
--> “Tournez la tête de l'autre côté” <--
“Turn your head on the other side”!
Look on the brighter side of life...
I kept thinking that “le monsieur désespérément pressé” on the other side of the shop window, flapping his wings against Time, could have been given exactly the same advice formulated in exactly the same way!

These considerations brought back to my mind La Fontaine's little 'lesson' borrowed from the Aesop's Fable of the hare and the tortoise.
“Rien ne sert de courir... Il faut partir à point”. True ... in principle, but.....

I bet the friendly people of Pernes-les-Fontaines would all agree with the old saying: “On ne peut pas aller plus vite que la musique!”

[Newforest]

“On ne peut pas aller plus vite que la musique!”
literally: you can't go any faster than music.

Which music? and what are we all doing? where are we going? at what speed? the speed of music???

I have no idea about the origin of the saying and I believe it's open to various interpretations. To me, there is a (symbolic) band playing in the background, whether we are aware of it or not. We are not always able to listen to it and to find it. When we do, we sort of keep walking along, following the rhythm of the type of music being played at different periods of our life. There is no need to go any faster, to speed up, to become “pressé” and miss so much around us.

[Jean Marc (l'autre)]

When impatience rears its ugly tete for me, I try to remember that it is the journey not the destination that is most important. But then again, I am usually the one who others wish would presse a bit... Seems I tend to live on Navajo time. ;)

[Carole]

Umm, Navajo time I understand completely, and I love the idea of constant music accompanying my daily life. Thank you Newforest and Jean Marc(l'autre).
It's warm and sunny here in Denver for only a little while.

[Sue Klein]

Hello,
I am stuck on the fact that HE was impatient to cook lunch. Yeah....
And a pintade, not just hamburgers on the grill.
I am very impressed. Go Jean Marc.
Sue K

[Valencia Siff]

My students wanted an explanation of the quote
"Ne lui fais pas attendre". They wanted to know why it wasn't "Ne LE fais pas attendre". I told them that we would ask the native speaker. Could Jean-Marc answer that for them "en français, s'il vous plaît?

[Kristin Espinasse]

Hi Valencia,

Sorry about this one. It was a mistake! Jean-Marc was a little distracted when I asked him to pronounce my sentence (with *my* mistake)--so even he didnt notice it! Please tell your students that it should be le: Ne LE fais pas attendre.

[7jades]

Hi, I found this blog today but this is so brilliant, hope I can learn atleast some French from here.Now I'm in a pressé to learn(hope I'm using the word correctly,pardon me if not) :)
And you and your sisters look so cute in this photo. Adore you picture!!Great.