subrepticement

 
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subrepticement (soo-brep-teece-mehn) adverb

    : surreptitiously

Audio File & Example Sentence: 

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Et là, nous découvrons ce qu'est le festival [de Cannes]: des queues interminables, des dames très « BCBG » qui se glissent subrepticement devant nous... And there, we discover just what is the Cannes Film festival: interminable lines, chic (BCBGBon Chic Bon Genre) women who slip surreptitiously in line ahead of us... (L'Union)

French Cooking

First published in 1927 to educate French housewives in the art of classical cooking, LA BONNE CUISINE DE MADAME E. SAINT-ANGE has since become the bible of French cooking technique, found on every kitchen shelf in France.

 

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A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse
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It might have been Cretan's glance for all I know. All I know is that I threw it his way, if such a side-long regard can be subrepticement thrown.

Did he see me? I can't be sure, but judging from the way he picked up speed, I'd say he did, indeed did he.

In the perched village of Ramatuelle, I was bee-lining my way up to a sunlit café. Before sensing the interloper, my eyes had been trained on the corner table at the edge of the boxed terrace, the one with a view of the fountain and les passants. My eyes—mes mirettes—were focused, locked now on the table du coin, the one drenched with Saturday morning sun. Précisément, I wanted that east-facing banc! More than to my muse, it spoke to my aching back.

For an altruistic instant I wondered: perhaps his back was aching too, that interloper who was now taking the terrace steps two by two.

Only, when he raced forward, there came the moment of truth...

That is when I found myself diving for the same booth!

 

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French Vocabulary

Cretan glance = many thanks to Johanna and Will Demay for introducing me to this fascinating term. My regrets for not using it in the most correct context... but I was ansy to try it out! The term was coined by Greek philosopher Nikos Kazantzakis who wrote Zorba The Greek  (about a philosophizing, larger-than-life mine owner who confronts life with exuberance and wit).

Nikos Kazantzakis once said: A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free.

le regard = glance
les passants = passers-by
la mirette = eye
les mirettes (fpl) = peepers
la table du coin = corner table
précisément = specifically
le banc = bench, seat

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French Playground : a collection of French language songs

Words in a French Life: Lessons in Life and Language from the South of France

 

Thank you Cynthia Bogart at The Daily Basics for including this blog in your Francophile alert. Read the story here!

And you will love Anne-Claire's My American Market newsletter. Check out the gluten-freee chestnut cake recipe... :-)

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