French Word-A-Day

ado

A child care center in Flayosc. Seems like yesterday that my son went to the crèche... read on in today's column.

ado (adoh) noun, masculine, feminine
  : teen

(short for un(e) adolescent = teenager)

Note: the audio file feature will return on Monday.
.

                 :: Does "ado" mean adieu to childhood? ::

There is something in the air around here and it smells like Adieu, like goodbye to a time and a place; fleeting and fading... like freckles on a child's face.

It has me dragging my legs to bed while the sun is still shining, or putting too much symbolism into the shape of the odd cloud that floats by my bedroom window. The angst, while passagère,* is palpable, present as a foreign fragrance in the air.

"Do you smell something rotting here?" I ask the boys while rooting around for the culprit, whom I suspect is hiding in these kitchen drawers. I wonder about the strange scent: is it a rat's adieu that I am sensing? And yet...the mouse traps are empty....

Max and his friend, Jack, shake their heads, a bit disappointed to have missed a rotting rodent sighting.

"No, there's nothing there, Mom." Max confirms. "No mice," Jack seconds.
"Are you sure?" I question, giving the kitchen drawers a good tug while searching for the source of the odor.

The boys insist that they can't smell a thing and I notice how they slip out of the kitchen lest they catch the foul fever that has seized me.

Surely the smell of something "turning" pervades the air? Oh well. I shut the drawers with a heavy sigh and return to the heap of children's clothing that needs sorting. As the giveaway pile grows, that palpable, perfumed something returns....

I pull one of the little t-shirts close and breathe in the scent of Nine-Years-Old. How long has he had this t-shirt? Four years? It was oversized to begin with and now it is easily too small for my son. Why haven't I given it away yet?

I set the shirt aside and curl up into a chair. Staring out the window, I notice the clouds pass even faster than the years have. I get up, turn my back on the clouds, and search the drawers again; this time for sweets. I am going to make a cake and quit staring at Time.

Later that night, my ears perk up when my son calls for me. "Give me a kiss goodnight, Mom?"
"You bet!" I say, wondering if this might be the next-to-last time he asks.

"You know," I remind my son, pushing a lock of hair out of his face. "You are still a kid."
"Yes, mom... I am still twelve."

Suddenly, the air seems a little lighter, sweeter....
"And you will still be a kid when you turn thirteen...." I remind him.
Max offers a doubtful look.
"No, Mom," Max argues. "I'll be a teenager."

That sweetness lingers for a moment before the scent molecules rearrange themselves once again, putting a bit of spice into their chemical makeup. I now understand what I have been sensing all along, and while I may have mixed feelings about it, one thing's sure: It smells like teen spirit.*

                                *     *     *

*See the French translation for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (Ça Sent L'Esprit Ado) at the end of this edition


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
passagère = brief, passing; Smells Like Teen Spirit = song by the former rock group Nirvana

     Check out the French Word-A-Day widget!:
  http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/french-word-a-day

Book Feature:  Postcards From France

As a junior in high school, Megan McNeill Libby left behind the familiar comforts of suburban New England to live abroad as an exchange student. Now, in this charming collection of thoughts and vignettes, she takes readers of every age on a delightful, memorable tour through her year in France. A few copies remain, here.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~
In French music: Cuisine Non-Stop: Introduction to the French Nouvelle
Generation http://www.amazon.com/o/asin/B0000DB51X/frencwordaday-20

Looking for a Frenchy baby gift? Baby Cie Ballerina dancer 4 piece dinner set &
puzzle: http://www.amazon.com/o/asin/B000NKTO0Y/frencwordaday-20

"Words in a French Life" (read all about my son's childhood)
http://www.amazon.com/o/asin/0743287290/frencwordaday-20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ÇA SENT L'ESPRIT ADO

       (select lyrics)

Je me sens stupide et contagieux
Nous voici maintenant, amuse-nous
un mulâtre, un albinos
un moustique, ma libido
...Ouais

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mullato, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
...Yeah

huile de coude

A lot of huile de coude will go into polishing up these guys, in Saint-Maurice-Sur-Eygues

huile de coude (weel-deuh-kood) noun, feminine
  : elbow grease

Did you know: the French use more than their elbows to work up a good idiom... they use their wrists and arms, too! Synonyms to "huile de coude" include "huile de bras" (arm oil) and "huile de poignet" (wrist oil).

                                   *     *     *
:: Audio File :: Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce today's word and definition:
Download huile_de_coude.mp3 . Download huile_de_coude.wav

Huile de coude (a.k.a. "huile de bras"): vigueur physique, volonté de bien faire, qui remplace avantageusement l'huile pour graisser les ressorts de notre machine. / Elbow grease (a.k.a. "arm oil): physical vigor, the will to do well, which has the advantage of replacing oil for greasing up the mainsprings of our machine.  --definition from the "Dictionnaire de la langue verte" by Alfred Delvau


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New, in books: "Pardon My French: Unleash Your Inner Gaul."
Did you know that "faire un canard," literally means "to do a duck" ... but also refers to dunking sugar lumps in coffee and is the preferred way to get a kick of sugar caffeine in France?... And that "tablette de chocolat" literally means "chocolate bar" but is also the term for a finely muscled male stomach in
France. Check out Charles Timoney's book, here.
.
..

A second cup of coffee was not going to arrange the jumble of nerve endings that was mine last Sunday morning. Looking around the house, instead of Calm, I saw only Choses-A-Faire!*

Choses-A-Faire and Things-To-Do are two most unwelcome weekend guests, especially on Sunday, a supposed day of rest. I set down the coffee pot and handed my cup to Jean-Marc, who appeared to be in the same nervy predicament as I: tired and on edge. Over-commitment and clutter once again conspired to steal the present moment.

After exchanging a few preliminary snips, snaps, and TAKE THAT'S!, it dawned on me that we had some powerful energy for hire and why waste it in the kitchen when we had two flower beds that needed weeding? Rather than picking on each other, we might pick on dandelions, foxtails, and crabby crabgrass instead!

In the minutes that followed, we exchanged our boxing gloves for garden gants,* put down our pride, picked up pioches,* and set aside just enough righteousness in time to wield a rake.

We said our apologies indirectly, of course...

Me: (backing into Jean-Marc with my wheelbarrow...) Oh... Sorry!
Jean-Marc: Désolé, chérie* (after launching an eyes-wide-with-terror escargot* into the air--missing me by a snail's breath!--only to be reminded that we don't sling snails, we SET them down somewhere else).

By the end of the morning the hippy happy rose hips* were heureuse* and the waist-high weeds were woebegone. "Take that!" I said, pitching another bunch of the mauvaises-herbes* into the wheelbarrow. In their place, sweet-scented flowers now stretched out their once-bundled branches. Ahhhh...

As for our own bundled branches of nerves, good old fashioned elbow grease* did the trick once again.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
choses à faire = things to do; le gant (m) = glove; une pioche (f) = pick, pickax(e); désolé chérie = sorry, dear; un escargot (m) =snail; rose hip (flower) = églantine (in French) a.k.a. "gratte-cul" ("scratch-ass" errr... "scratch-(yer)-bottom"); heureuse (heureux) = happy; une mauvaise herbe = weed; elbow grease = huile (f) de coude, in French

 

     Check out the French Word-A-Day widget!:
  http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/french-word-a-day

.
~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exercises in French Phonics

Painless French: grammar, pronunciation, idioms, idiocies (culture) and more!

In French music: French Playground, a musical rendez-vous of fun French and French Creole songs that will delight children of all ages.

Lego Make & Create Café Corner

 

sein

Near the town of Roaix (Vaucluse) poppies mix-n-mingle with valerian (a French cat fave).

In books: The story of John Hu, a lowly but devout Chinese Catholic who in 1722 accompanied a Jesuit missionary on a journey to France -- one that ended with Hu's confinement in a lunatic asylum. At once a triumph of historical detective work and a gripping narrative, The Question of Hu deftly probes the collision of two cultures, with their different definitions of faith, madness, and moral obligation.

sein (sehn [silent (nasal)] "n") noun, masculine
  : breast, bosom; (figurative meaning: midst, center, heart, gulf)

Quote and Pronunciation (hear my daughter, Jackie, read these French words): Download sein.mp3. Download sein.wav

Garde au sein du malheur l'espérance et la foi : Tout pauvre peut trouver un plus pauvre que soi. Keep, in the midst of misfortune, hope and faith: one can always find another who is less fortunate than oneself. --Juan Manuel

~

On a Saturday morning drive, the kids and I speed past fields of poppies, canals choked with irises, and little roadside perennials, including hollyhocks (the French, I've just discovered, call them "rose trémières"). Now if only I could name the other flowers carpeting the colorful countryside at this time of year....

For this reason, I am on my way to the botanical exposition in the town of Malaucène.* If my children are with me, that's because I have bribed them with cash and not because they are fascinated by the common name for "valériane"* ("lily of Spain" a.k.a "herbe aux chats"*-- something I only just found out
myself last week).

When we arrive at Vaison-la-Romaine, and still haven't seen a sign for Malaucène, I grow concerned. "But where is Malaucène?" I question. "Why haven't we seen a sign yet?"

From the back of the car I hear snickering.
"Hey guys. Keep it down!... and keep your eyes peeled for a sign that reads Malaucène!"

(More snickering from the back seat...).

I recognize these snickers: "pronunciation snickers" they are. The sound of Malaucène--as pronounced by a lazy learner of French--has my Francophone children in stitches again.

"Mal-oh-seNNNNN" Max says, correcting my pronunciation. "And not 'mal-oh-SEH(N)'!"

"Sen" and "seh(n)": the one might be suitable pronunciation for a river running through Paris, but the other one, uttered, utterly means "bosom"!

Come-to-think of it, the name "Malaucène" did seem a bit odd... especially when breaking the word down into individual components: mal au cène (sehn?). Then again, that a town might be called "Ache-In-The-Breast" didn't surprise me too much. After all, the French aren't prude when it comes to naming places (case-in-point: the French town of "Condom"*... and never mind that Condom doesn't mean condom* in English, the town's name still causes tourists to blush and/or snicker, like those kids in the back of my car...).

A kilometer later, when I still haven't seen any signs to Malaucène, I see a flickering green cross: a pharmacy. "I'm going to pull over and ask for directions to "Malaucène," I explain to the kids.

My son and daughter exchange amused looks. That's when Max finally offers some direction: "Mom," he suggests. "Just don't ask the pharmacist where 'Boob Ache' is located."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malaucène = town in the Vaucluse; la valériane (f) = valerian (valeriana officinalis, Valerianaceae) a.k.a. "St. George's herb"; l'herbe (f) aux chats = cat mint herb (for its effect, similar to catnip, on cats); Condom = town in the Gers region of France; condom = the French word for condom is "un préservatif"; boob ache = (the French term "mal au sein"--here, the faulty pronunciation for the village "Malaucène"--translates to "pain in the breast"
.

BOOKS:
With the Help of Our Friends from France: Stabilizing and Living with Advanced Breast Cancer. Upon learning that her breast cancer had spread to her liver, Carol Silverander was given a three percent chance of beating the disease, and was told she would probably live for just two years. This is the story of how she came to think about cancer in a different way, and discovered an innovative form of treatment that had been pioneered by two remarkable physicians in France. 

Read about how my mom coped with her cancer, while being treated in France, in my book "Words in a French Life"

"The Botanist and the Vintner". In the mid-1860s, grapevines in southeastern France inexplicably began to wither and die. Jules-Émile Planchon, a botanist from Montpellier, was sent out to investigate. Read more, here


Terms & Expressions:
  donner le sein à un enfant = to breast-feed a baby
  le cancer du sein = breast cancer
  aller seins nus = to go topless
  au sein de = in the middle of
  au sein du Père = in the bosom of the Father
  au sein du luxe = in the lap of luxury
  le sein de la terre = the bowels of the earth

~~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tell Me More French: French language software with more than 750 hours of learning

Fallot Dijon Herbed Mustards - Set of 4 French Mustards

pagayer

In place of a picture of Ardèche (I didn't have a camera with me in the canoe--see today's story...) here's a picture taken at Giens, near Hyérès, in the South of France.

Book: Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise Of The Music Of Language

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and pioneering cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter hints at what led him to pen a deep personal homage to the witty sixteenth-century French poet Clément Marot."Le ton beau de Marot" literally means "The sweet tone of Marot", but to a French ear it suggests "Le tombeau de Marot"-that is, "The tomb of Marot".
;
pagayer (pa-gay-yay)
   : to paddle

:: Audio File :: Listen to today's word: Download pagayer.mp3 . Download pagayer.wav

Example sentence and sound file by Jean-Marc:
     Il faut pagayer pour faire avancer et diriger le canoé.
     You must paddle in order to advance and steer the canoe.

~

There are landscapes in France: rugged, chalky and sharp-edged, yet with tender flowers pushing up through the cracked stone, that stir the soul, and there are words in the French language that make my heart go padam padam padam.* "Pagayer"* is one of them....

"Pagaye!" Jackie shouts, from the middle of our canoe, as we glide down a slippery limestone canyon via the river Ardèche. The canyon walls are dotted with bright yellow wildflowers and, like that, I have lost track of my row-boat duties while admiring Mother Nature.

"Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!" Jackie reminds me as we approach a frothing and gurgling giant disguised as a stretch of river rapids.

"No! DADDY is supposed to paddle!" I shout, remembering the two minute mini-course in river rafting that we took before snapping shut our safety vests. When crossing over the rapids, the instructor told us, we were to leave the paddling to the person at the BACK of the boat, so as to prevent the boat from
flipping, something which could lead to noyade*....

"Pagaye! Pagaye! Pagaye!" As my daughter shouts commands, I notice the troubled water ahead of us and my eyes are now bigger than Terror on seeing the white-tipped rapids that threaten to do cartwheels with our pencil-thin boat. Suddenly, I think about all those caves we'd just cruised past and about how the word grotte* is (conveniently???) related to crypt. Panicked, I turn to our wine-fueled navigator, seated in the back of the canoe.

"STEER!" I shout.

"Oh-mon-dieu-oh-mon-dieu-oh-mon-dieu!" I babble. Who knew rivers had gurgling POT HOLES and aren't we about to end up in one?

In supplication, I look up to the sky, beyond the limestone canyon that engulfs us, and say my last mea culpas:  I am sorry for feeding cat food to our dog (but we were out of canine kibbles). I am sorry for writing that story about Jean-Marc in which I called him "Miss France" (chalk it off to post-partum
depression in which he always looked so pretty and I, plumpy). I am sorry for feeding my perfect half-sister heaping tablespoons full of calorie-rich peanut butter, while babysitting her, but I was so insecure and jealous about Dad's shiney new family. (Twenty-some years later and I'm over it. Little Sister is still beautiful and now I suspect the peanut butter was good for her complexion. She never did get fat). Finally, God, forgive me for not flossing... I hope my teeth don't fall out... but what good are teeth to us now?...

NOW that we are about to bite into river rock! Oh-mon-dieu-oh-mon-Dieu!

The sound of giggling brings me out of my repenting stupor. When I open my eyes, I notice that the boat-eating "pot holes," and all that gurgling water surrounding them, are now behind us. I reach up and feel a mouthful of teeth, every last quenotte* in place.

"Dieu," I say, "while I can't change the past... or the peanut butter... je promets de passer le fil dentaire ce soir.* Amen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
padam padam... = lyrics from a 1951 song by Edith Piaf; pagayer = to paddle; la noyade (f) = drowning; la grotte (f) = cave, grotto; une quenotte (f) = tooth (in child's language); je promets de passer le fil dentaire ce soir = I promise to floss tonight

Ardèche-related book: "A Place in France: an Indian Summer" Meet Nigel and Nippy, who attempt to open an Indian restaurant in France. 

Book: Exercises in French Phonics

Painless French: grammar, pronunciation, idioms, idiocies (culture) and more!

Provence Waffleweave Dishcloth Set

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

engueulade

A couple of French turkeys, each pouting in his/her own corner après l'engueulade. Photo taken at Château Miraval.

"Arguing is to the modern Frenchman what thinking was to Descartes, a proof of existence....Vitupero ergo sum: I bicker, therefore I am." --from the book "Culture Shock! France" by Sally Adamson Taylor

engueulade (ongh-lahd) noun, feminine
  1. argument, shouting match
  2. scolding

Also: a telling-off, bawling out, blowing up, chewing out or "a giving to another of one hell of a bad time". Get the picture?

Idioms & Expressions:
recevoir une engueulade = to be hauled over the coals (to be told off)

"Ils se sont quittés sur une engueulade. They parted after a stinking row."
--quote and translation from the Dictionary of French Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Henry Strutz

Listen to my daughter, Jackie, pronounce today's words and example sentence:
Download engueulade.mp3 . Download engueulade.wav.
..

When Jean-Marc and I were in Paris last month, we stayed at Florence and Olivier's love nest in the onzième.* A "shopping list" posted on the fridge had me admiring the couple's 15-year-old recipe for amour.*  Scribbled on a piece of paper were these essential ingredients:

MA LISTE DES COURSES:

- 1 kg de câlins
- 300 g de caresses
- 2 kg de tendresse
- 1/2 T de bisous
- 0 kg d'engueulades


(MY SHOPPING LIST:)

- 1 kilo of cuddles
- 300 grams of caresses
- 2 kilos of tenderness
- 1/2 T of kisses
- 0 kilos of shouting

One thing that amused be about this list, was the ingredient "engueulades". But, of course! I thought, knowing all along that shouting and spouting somehow measured into real love. But just how much temper... tempered love? I wondered, rechecking the list of ingredients. That's when I noticed the zero allotment...

A little disheartened to realize that the Love Recipe was limited to only sweet ingredients (personally, our marriage "cake" has always included a good measure of salt), I had an inspiration....

Like that, I picked up a virtual crayon* and crossed out that "0" as well as that "kilo". Next, having looked both ways and when the coast was clear, I scribbled in, there--just before the word "engueulade"--this new measure:

"1 heaping, HOLLERING teaspoon!"

I may not be the best cook, but this is one recipe that I have been perfecting ever since cutting a frosty French cake (with the help of my Sometimes Huffy Husband) a decade and a half ago.

Signed,
A Sometimes Hissy Housewife
.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
le onzième (m) = the "eleventh" district or "arrondissement"; l'amour (m) = love; le crayon (m) = pencil

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


~~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Video: Visions Of France: See the breathtaking beauty of southeastern France from a spectacular vantage point.

Learn to Speak and Understand French with Pimsleur Language Programs

Cruise the side streets in style with this Euro-style electric scooter from Razor. Featuring a high-performance, chain-driven electric motor and a vintage-inspired body, the Pocket Mod can reach speeds of up to 15 miles per hour--plenty fast enough for a quick trip to the corner store or a fun ride in the country.