Gourmande

There are some English words for which there are absolutely no equivalents in French. One I've tried and tried to find the translation for is the word "wedgie" - a quick fun English word describing the back part of one's underwear being pinched between one's butt cheeks. Alas, there is no French word to describe this notion, which amazes me. You know how the Eskimos have like thousands of words for snow? Well, if you extend that rationale and see that the word "wedgie" does not exist in French, well, does that mean the French have never ever experienced this rather annoying but temporary (though sometimes recurring) and ultimately harmless situation?

Likewise, there are some French words for which there are no direct equivalents in English. "Gourmande" is one. You can say that Manolee is "gourmande" because she loves to eat. When you see someone taking third and fourth helpings of dessert, for example, that person would sheepishly look at you and say, "eh, je suis gourmande, eh?". You hear parents say, not altogether disapprovingly, "ma fille est plutot gourmande". Gourmande is not greedy - I thought it was, but it's not, because the English word "greedy" has a slight (or more than slight) negative connotation. Gourmande, as far as I can tell, does not have a negative connotation. A touch of apologetic tinge, perhaps, but it is not bad or rude to call somebody gourmande. You can call food items gourmande as well, if it's elaborately prepared and/or presented - which is why I had to chuckle when I found this on a restaurant menu the other day (see the second item):

Progress?

I find myself going utterly frantic just walking the girls to school. The girls have a tendency (do all kids?) to look straight ahead or to look up at the sky - hence my frequent and urgent warnings "watch out!", "aaargh, look out!", "watch your foot! Your right foot! Your... oh crap"

Because, yes, it is crap, threatening to envelope our shoes every 18 steps or so. I rant about this so often but it just seems to get worse and worse. The other Sunday, there was a street "braderie" (a neighborhood yard sale) - and in the middle of the day, someone saw it fit to let his dog take a crap right in the middle of the busy pedestrian-thronged street. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. Off in the discrete corner? Why bother? My dog wants to poop now!

So I was mildly surprised to see the following boxes pop up - one by the Lycee Emile Zola, and the other at the Parc Thabor:


Alas, my surprise and pleasure at seeing this was somewhat tempered when I realized that the boxes carried no bags whatsoever. Hmmm. Enthusiastic dog-owners emptied the boxes at first sight? City officials did not bother filling it with bags (the "why-bother, nobody-will-comply" mentality)??

Progress, it may be, albeit at a snail's pace!

Stupid French Grammar Rule: Part I

I rant about this quite often and it made me think that it may be entirely possible to create a blog devoted to this topic. So many rules and then... so many exceptions - with no rhyme or reason.

Part I of this series then:

Plurals of Nouns ending in -au, -eau, -eu

This is what Hana's textbook says:

Nouns that end in -au, -eau, and -eu take an "x" in plural forms.

Examples:

le rideau/les rideaux

le bateau/les bateaux

un cheveu/des cheveux

Exceptions:

The words pneu, bleu and landau take an "s" in plural.

In fact, there are four additional words that take an "s" instead of an "x", but they are not exactly everyday words. These are sarrau, unau, lieu (a type of fish; watch out, if you are talking about Lieu as in a place, it still takes an "x" in plural!), and emeu.

No explanations on why these 7 words forgo the rule and end in an "s" instead. If there are only 7 words, why not just make it easy for everyone and just make them take an "x" instead of an "s"?? Wouldn't that be simpler and easier for everybody? What does the Academie Francaise do exactly, could they not issue a mandate on this matter?

In the meantime, Hana will just have to remember which ones are the exceptions. The French language sure is quite taxing on one's memory!

Random information I gleamed from the US media this week

> An average American buys 1 piece of clothing every 5-1/2 days (NY Times, September 6th)

> A boil is like a giant zit that, when popped, oozes out stinky pus (Youtube - currently making the rounds on the web, of two girls popping one on a friend(!)'s shoulder)

> You get tenured into the NYC education system after only three years of teaching - with only 3 percent failing to be tenured (the New Yorker, August 31st)

> Little Italy is now locally coined "Little Chitaly" - makes perfect sense to me! (the New York Mag)

Back to School!

School is a good thing. Kids at school is a godsend.

Even though Hana was whining that she didn't want the vacation to end (and Manolee echoes everything Hana whines about), the night before the first day of school they were both pretty excited. Then in the morning Hana set her brand-new alarm clock to 7am, about 45 minutes before she really needs to (since we live across the street from school) - and they were off:


Already I am learning a ton of new things with Hanaya. For example, last year we (or more specifically, I) struggled with writing numbers out in French, because of the senseless rule about not making eighties and hundreds and thousands plural if the number does not end in those specific numbers (it is hard to even explain because it is so senseless - so 80 would be quatre-vingtS, but 82 would be quatre-vingt-deux without an "s" at the end of "vingt". I am sure I ranted about this in some previous post). The first night of school, I learned along with Hanaya that when it comes to millions, you always add an "s" at the end, no matter where that falls in a number. Textbooks do not apologize for this random paradoxical rule that refutes all the other "exceptions". Sigh... of more sighs to come this school year!