Mot du jour...

raphaelS

I like the word of the day thread in English... and I though it will be great to have the same here.

Dodeliner: Il dodelinait de la tête -> his head was nodding

Raphael

Samson

La plume de ma Tante est dans votre derrière.

The feather of my Aunt is in your derrière.

Don't ask me what it means, I just read it in a book and thought it a particularly interesting phrase.

raphaelS

What kind of book it that...

It means "The feather of my aunt is in your ass"... Then a sentence out of its context!!

Raphael

Samson

I do know what derrière means.

I meant I didn't know what the phrase meant, but it sounds good in French.

The book was Cutter and Bone, by Newton Thornburg.

lili

talking about french title books, i like this one :

"mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours"

means :

"my nights are more beautiful than your days"

raphaelS

Débordé... le gars.
You can say that when you are very busy or not at all (ironic)..!

Raphael

lili

volute.

Beruthiel

I would find this thread very useful – however, it would be helpful if it was also spelt phonically
my one - and my spelling will most likely have to be corrected

en bien de donc

You say this to someone when you don’t want to speak what’s on your mind, though they will probably know already
A useful phrase when my b/f says for the thousandth time how great the French are compared to everyone else

lili

eh bien dis donc!

that's an expression nomore often used:)

you can say to your bf that english language seems richer than french finally;)

raphaelS

Tiens c'est marrant moi je l'utilise souvent mais pas dans le même sens, ça doit etre encore une des ces expressions régionales!

Eh ben didons!

Je dis ça quand je suis impressionné par quelque chose mais sans voie... Et ben didons, c'est impressionnant!

For you're phrase Beruthiel, I will say "Mais oui, bien sûre!" or "Mais oui c'est ça, tu as raison...!"


Raphael

embraer170

anticonstitutionnellement

http://membres.lycos.fr/anticonstit/

lili

well, must hard to slice it in a conversation:)

today mine is : volute

Lukin Black

Pour moi j'aime nouilles ou bouilleur - seulement parce que j'ai du pratiquer pendant longtemps pour pouvoir les dire!

lili

c'est : bouilloire:)

it's hard to prononce it for an english speaker? i would like hear that then:p

Lukin Black

oui, c'est ça - bouilloire - le mot du Diable. ça me donne de cauchemars :eek: C'est beaucoup pire que nouilles.

lili

it's because you, the english speakers, put your tongue always against teeth and in this word, your tongue must stay away:)

Lukin Black

No, it's cause it's hard to say It's just trying to 'gel' the bouill-oire together, I think it's hard not to try splitting the word into bou-illoire.

Anyway, I'm coming out in goosebumps, and ca me fait nul en francais encore :eek:

lili

i have an american friend who put long time before being able to prononce "heureusement"

what means goosebumps by the way?

Lukin Black

Quand le peau sur les bras se lève.. les petites bosses au bas de chaque peau est un 'goosebump'. Je n'ai pas mon dictionnaire ici. Tu sais qu'est que c'est en français?

raphaelS

J'ai regardé dans le dico et goosebumps c'est la chair de poule...
Though the spelling I found as well "to come out in goose pimples"

Donc le mot du jour: avoir la chair de poule!

Raphael

lili

ah ok, avoir la chair de poule:)

mot du jour : franglais

Unpossible

A useful phrase when my b/f says for the thousandth time how great the French are compared to everyone else

my god yes, my g/f is always on about how better the french are, it seems that where the americans are ignorant the french are arrogant, maybe thats why they don't get along


sorry for going off topic

lili

my best friend is from dallas texas:D
not a good association, but we accept each other like we are. she has no culture but on another hand she's smarter than me to adapt herself about all.:)

Unpossible

she has no culture

you see this is the problem, if somebody is not into french culture they are considered uncultured. my g/f once said i didn't have any culture, i then pointed out that i am well aware & involved in Irish culture which is far older than its french counterpart. It just highlights french arrogance, "unless its french culture you are uncultured". Im sorry for the rant but it does annoy me to have that told to me simply because i dislike french music

lili

hehe, it's easy to make you upset;)
i was sure you would react in that way:p

frankly, it's ridiculous to judge a person about his nationality and by the way, is it really importante to know who is voltaire or who composed this or that classical music?
no, it's not importante, the most importante is to know why we are on earth and what we gonna do of our lives.:)

Unpossible

frankly, it's ridiculous to judge a person about his nationalit

true, however i find that often you will find little bits of stereotypes, in people. i.e. americans are said to be big headed and stupid etc, however after working over there i found that these are well educated intelligent people (most of the ones on the east coast anyway), however they would almost all have some traits which coincided with the sterotypes.

is it really importante to know who is voltaire or who composed this or that classical music?

if it is the culture of your country yes, everyone should be aware of their own culture & history, so that they know where they came from (again this lack of history causes americans to try and latch on to ours)

knowledge is good, we should all look into other cultures and different styles of music, however we don't need to become experts on them or even like them to be "cultured"

again sorry for ranting,
and no its not easy to make me upset, please remember that its hard to live with a french person who is always trying to point out how great they are

lili

hmm...
if she loves you, she shouldn't acting in that way.
i am french but i don't think in that way.

Beruthiel

hey Unpossible
you want to stop your g/f harping on about how wonderful the french are?

anytime my bloke starts, I use the phrase I've given already, along with:

well at least I'm not a arrogant French cheese eating surrender monkey



works every time (I wouldn't recommend this comment if your g/f has no sense of humour)

I understand all too well how this can be at times, especially after hearing it so often. You just have to point out they are not perfect, I've been in France at least 14 times at this stage, from an Irish point of view - they don't know how to let their hair down and not care what others think, there is much more restriction with behaviour/dress/attitude etc....
they think you have a drink problem if you have more than two - how many times have I heard "elle est irlandaise" with the response "ah oui? je comprend" :rolleyes:

and before I get flamed to death - those are my personal observations and I love going to france, I may actually go live there at some time in the future. (after I give up my partying ways....)

lili

hahaha
an arrogant french cheese eating surrender monkey:D
i like this description:p

slow down with the frenchies please, we are so fragile;)
seriously, we are not that bad, are we?:)

Beruthiel

Originally posted by lili
hahaha
an arrogant french cheese eating surrender monkey:D
i like this description:p

I believe the Simpsons started that one off!

slow down with the frenchies please, we are so fragile;)

oui, je sais I slag him over that too

seriously, we are not that bad, are we?:)

not at all, I live with one don't I?
every country has its good and bad points, we Irish are no saints either, but I won't have anyone thinking that he's better cos he comes for a better country
my sister has lived in Quimper for 15 years now, I have met a lot of her friends and they are wonderful
vive france et vive l'irlande

lili

i didn't know you lived with a frenchy. that's the reason why you speak so well french.
i think people of our countries appriciate each other.