abregement
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A photo for Diane Scott. This dog (an épagneul?), lives in St. Tropez and gets to call those lovely blue shutters and lace curtains home. Now if someone would just let the loiterer inside for a nice treat!
Note: today's extra edition is a word only. The regular edition (with sound file, vocab section) returns tomorrow!
abrégement (ah-brezh-mahn)
: abbreviation
synonymes : une apocope, un raccourcissement (shortening), une abréviation
A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse
............................................................................
You've heard about writer's block (when you can't think of the first word to put down on paper), then reader's block (when you don't feel like picking up a book), and now... how about "in-box block"? I've got it bad.
More about this topic another time. Meantime, while catching up on email, I reread one of Carol's (see her photo, below) poetic and educational responses, this time to the apocope edition. I thought you, too, would enjoy reading it -- for the rich list of vocab words and for the reminder as to what, exactly, apocopes are. Enjoy!
P.S.: Carol is a big fan of Smokey "R" Dokey and has addressed the following letter to his-truly.
P.P.S.: Would anyone like to volunteer to translate the following text? Please share your interpretation here in the comment's box. Merci beaucoup for your helpful participation!
En période d'exam (examen)
On ouvre le dico (dictionnaire)
Sur ces kilos d' mots, (kilogrammes)
C'est la récré, on va au ciné, (récréation, cinématographe)
L'affaire est dans l'sac
On aura no't bac, on ira en fac (baccalauréat, faculté)
Prenons l'auto, filons au resto, j'offre l'apéro (automobile, restaurant, apéritif)
On f'ra des photos, (photographies)
Du prof de philo. (professeur, philosophie)
Pour toi Smokey:
Toi, joli chien sympa, sensas, extra, (sympathique, sensationnel, extraordinaire)
Je suis fan de toi (fanatique).
Smokey's Pooch-Perfect Pillow photo by Jean-Marc
Tu as remarqué Smokey, pour créer une apocope, on enlève les syllabes finales. Or, quand les proprios (propriétaires) de chiens vous parlent, ils utilisent le langage "enfantin" ou "enfanchien" dans ce cas. Et là, pour faire simple, ils doublent les syllabes, pour être sûrs que vous compreniez bien. Deux fois la même syllabe dis, comme si vous pouviez pas piger du premier coup! Ils vous prennent pour des débiles! Exemple:
Viens mon chienchien, (chien)
fini le dodo, (dormir)
donne la papatte à mèmère, (patte, mère)
où il a mis son nonoss le toutou? (os) (toutou/chienchien, même topo)
Il a encore fait le foufou...." (fou ..... fou? qui est fou?:-)
...etc... On en passe, et des pires.
Que leur répondre? Ils ne sont pas méchants, plutôt bienveillants...
......Alors vous utilisez le même langage pour ne pas les vexer, et vous répondez :"wouaf, wouaf"! Deux fois, pour qu'ils comprennent bien.....
Bisous Bisous,
Carol Donnay, Belgium
Please join me in thanking Carol for her helpful "apocope" examples. Click here to leave her a message, which she'll happily read from her chez-soi in Belgium!
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