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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Les bouchées…et décupler
Strange as it may seem, ‘mettre les bouchées doubles’ (literally: to put the double mouthfuls) means ‘to redouble your efforts’. And ‘décupler’ may sound like ‘to uncouple’ but in fact means ‘to increase tenfold’.
Actions et tube
Les actions (nfpl): As well as English ‘actions’, ‘les actions’ also mean ‘shares’ as in stocks and shares. Now where did I put my Swiss bank account… Le tube: ‘Un tube’ or ‘le tube’ has many meanings but the (London) … Continue reading
Pavement et chauffeur
Le pavement: I am always happily surprised when I discover a new ‘false friend’, and this, I think, is a good one. ‘Le pavement’ is ‘ornamental tiling’, and the English ‘pavement’ is ‘le trottoir’. Simples. Un chauffeur: I was also surprised … Continue reading
Arthur Rimbaud
Sensation par Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891): Par les soirs bleus d’été, j’irai dans les sentiers,/Picoté par les blés, fouler l’herbe menue :/Rêveur, j’en sentirai la fraîcheur à mes pieds./Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tête nue./Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai … Continue reading
Photograph(er)
This is a good example of a “false friend”: ‘Un photographe’ is ‘a photographer’ and ‘une photographie’ is ‘a photograph’.
‘Passer un savon’ and ‘bribe’
‘Passer un savon à quelqu’un’ does not mean to pass the soap to somebody but ‘to give somebody a telling off ‘! And ‘une bribe de musique’ is not to bribe somebody with music but ‘a snatch of music’.
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Balzac, Honoré de
To avoid French titters, pronounce the ‘Bal’ in Balzac to rhyme with ‘Hal’ and not ‘hall’.
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A sly dig
Dimanche : La phrase de la semaine, comme souvent, est d’Angelo Rinaldi : “Avec un roman fait-on autre chose que de passer de l’anonymat à l’oubli ?” Frédéric Beigbeder Sunday: The saying of the week, as is often the case, … Continue reading
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Tagged Angelo Rinaldi, Frédéric Beigbeder, French language, quotations
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A budding singer
‘Un chanteur/une chanteuse en herbe‘ translates literally as: ‘A male singer/a female singer in grass.’ But we would say, more aptly, of course: ‘a budding singer.’
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Pas mal (de)
Although ‘pas mal’ translates as ‘not bad’, ‘pas mal de…’ translates as ‘a lot of…’: Pas mal de chats : a lot of cats/Pas mal de gens confus, personnes confuses : many confused people. Yes, quite…