Clair, are you paying attention? Useful expressions!

[mint]

[quote user="NormanH"]I think you mean "je suis sortie."....
[/quote]

Yes, I DO!  Thank you.

 

[mint]

Norman, I've just GOT to te raconte ma petite histoire!

Arrived at French class late, having been to the pharmacie beforehand for a new prescription for OH.  Rushed in with my sunglasses still on and someone joked that I was either in disguise or pretending to be un actrice.  Let that pass and just took them off.

Later on during the lesson, the teacher produced the screenplay of "la fille du puisatier".  Now, you will recall that you told me about this film et le "remake" of Pagnol's book.  As nobody knew what a puisatier was and as we'd already done some charade-type "acting" about les métiers, I offered (in my actressy mode) to "faire la mime"of the work of a puisatier.

So, I dug the air energetically, then I made a "bucket" with my hands, I lowered the bucket, I withdrew the bucket, I drank the water that I had drawn from the well and I smacked my lips appreciatively.  You'd think they'd guess it and the teacher even said it was a very good mime.  Alas, no dice, nobody understood!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I then read the part of Patricia in the screenplay and I just wanted you to know that none of the things that you have taught me has been lost!

Then, I have thought of another petit problème.  I have to meet the agent immobilière tomorrow and I remember now that she described my house as being renovated with nobles materials.  So, OK, house is lovely and renovated with taste but, what would "nobles" mean in this context?

[Cendrillon]

Just a quick guess, I would think nobles means something like quality.

Sweets I like the description of your acting , a new career maybe?[;-)]

[NormanH]

Yes I think it means 'fine' in the sense of quality. Things like solid wood or  marble or stone  rather than plasterboard and plastic.

I think we use 'noble' in English for precious metals..

Next time have yourself filmed and post it on YouTube

[:D]

[mint]

Yes, that would be it:  all floors are either tiled or real wood, all windows and doors are wood, the outside of the house is stone and the main fireplace is brick-built.

There are also "noble gasses" and OH tells me that that means that they do not combine with other gases.

Me, I'm no noble, alas![:D]

[Frecossais]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Yes, that would be it:  all floors are either tiled or real wood, all windows and doors are wood, the outside of the house is stone and the main fireplace is brick-built.

There are also "noble gasses" and OH tells me that that means that they do not combine with other gases.

Me, I'm no noble, alas![:D]

[/quote]

Never mind Sweet, you can always behave in a noble way...........something the nobility didn't (and don't) always do.

[Chancer]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Ok, le mot F....

First lesson of this year this morning and I asked the teacher about foutu.

Specifically, I asked her if it was vulgaire.  She says it's NOT.  It's sort of like cassé, I supppose it's like kaput, but then, that's not an English word either, is it?[:D]

I also gave her the context of my soft-spoken neighbour saying that the boulangerie est foutu.  I daresay that, if one were to write that down, it would have to be la boulangerie est foutuE?

[/quote]

I used another variant of this today, to say that something was cleverly designed, well concieved, - C'est bien foutu [;-)]

Do they say that where you live?

I suspect that il/elle est bien foutu(e) doesnt carry the same meaning [6]

[mint]

No, Chance, I have never heard foutu used like that.

When the agent tried to get me to discuss an offer she'd received for my house today, I told her that it was much to early to accept les offres dérisoires. Hope that spelling's right.

She was persuading me to accept and to meet up for a discussion but, after I told her the people actually tried to deal direct with me AFTER visiting with her, she soon changed her tune and agreed that it wasn't a good offer.

Chance, I shall listen for foutu used in your sense and I shall let you know if I catch someone saying c'est bien foutu [:)]

 

[Gardengirl]

My husband was extremely pleased yesterday when he actually heard somebody say 'nickel'! He'd heard me talk about and say 'nickel' and 'chrome', but that was the first time he'd actually managed to hear it said. We'd only been back in France for 4 days after about 2 months in England, so  reckon his ear has got back in very quickly this time!

[soupagirl]

Just like to say thank you to Sweet 17  for initiating this thread, and I hope it continues to be prominent in the listings for some time to come. I've been following it with interest and it's now providing an interesting and informative contrast to other threads I'm watching at the moment - the 'how to get BBC back' ones! 

[mint]

Glad you're enjoying the topic, soupagirl [:)]

Well, here we go, everybody:  I have something for the specialists [I]

This is the most convoluted sentence I have read in a long time and it's in a short story about 2 men having a drink in a bar in Sri Lanka and one of them is telling the other about his father.  That's the background.

The conversation at this point is about l'humanitaire.

Here is the sentence:

L'essentiel est moins ce que l'on fait que les raisons pour lesquelles on le fait, n'est-ce pas?

I am not after a word for word translation of course because it just doesn't work like that, does it?  Could someone please tell me the sense of what's being said, svp?

[Cendrillon]

L'essentiel est moins ce que l'on fait que les raisons pour lesquelles on le fait, n'est-ce pas?

The thing is it is less about what one is doing but more importantly the reasons why one is doing it, isn't it?

Sweets this is not a brilliant sentence but that's just of the top of my head. I am sure someone will be along soon with a better translation.[:)]

[mint]

Cinders, don't be so modest!

Your sentence makes perfect sense to me and also accords well with the conversation in the story.  The man wants to explain what the humanitarian ideal is and wants to get to the bare bones of that ideal.

[Chancer]

How about a very short "its the thought that counts" ?

Although the sentence does contain faire so someone attempting or half doing something with good intentions rather than a Wosgonna.

I wosgonna send you a birtday card etc.....................

I did once hear a French version of it, something like un/une J'allais faire.

Have you ever heard anyone described as "Moijeuse" or "Moijeux" ?

Have you worked it out? Its one I really like [:D]

[Cendrillon]

In this case Chancer I don't think you are right. In the original sentence IMHO the person is questioning the deed and not just making  a statement.

[Chancer]

True. It could have been a dastardly deed!

Or someone trying to drop someone in it and the intended victim coming out smelling of roses.

[mint]

Chance, Cinders is spot on.

As I explained, the 2 men were defining what l'humanitaire is about.

In fact, the sentence preceding the one I asked about is this:

Cela se réduit à peu près à ce que vous appelez l'humanitaire

She has translated the sentence in the context which I provided so your translation, in this instance, would not give the full flavour of what is being said and, in any case, c'est pas très élégamment exprimé!

Heavens, how they go on about whether something is joli or elegant, when all you want to do (well, all I want to do) is merely to be understood!

 

[mint]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I used another variant of this today, to say that something was cleverly designed, well concieved, - C'est bien foutu [;-)]

Do they say that where you live?

I suspect that il/elle est bien foutu(e) doesnt carry the same meaning [6]

[/quote]

Chance, I used your phrase in class to see what the reaction would be.  I thought it would be quickest way to find out if people use that phrase here.

The teacher said it meant c'est bien fait.

I might use it in another (safe) setting to gauge the reaction. Must say I'm a bit nervous about using it because now the teacher says the f word is vulgaire.

Now I want to know what chanvre means when it applies to clothes, that is, the material in which the item is made.  I have seen it many times on my favourite leboncoin site but I still don't know what material chanvre is.

[Gardengirl]

I think that's hemp, Sweet.

[Tancrède]

[quote user="sweet 17"]I have seen it many times on my favourite leboncoin site but I still don't know what material chanvre is.[/quote]

Oh  -  I am glad that you have corrected it !  [Or did I misread?]   Chancre is canker (in trees) and various other things, mostly unpleasant.

Chanvre is hemp.

When I moved, the déménageur (unable to access a crucial box) lent me some hemp sheets for the first night  -  wonderful.

[mint]

But how can you have a blouse or a skirt made of hemp?

These clothes don't look rough (as I imagine hemp would be) textured; just ordinary looking smooth clothes?

[Tancrède]

It might, of course, be an error for linen;  not everyone can tell the difference. 

But hemp is soft and smooth and cool, and altogether pleasing…   Much nicer than cotton.

[mint]

[quote user="Gengulphus"][quote user="sweet 17"]I have seen it many times on my favourite leboncoin site but I still don't know what material chanvre is.[/quote]
Oh  -  I am glad that you have corrected it !  [Or did I misread?]   Chancre is canker (in trees) and various other things, mostly unpleasant.

Chanvre is hemp.

When I moved, the déménageur (unable to access a crucial box) lent me some hemp sheets for the first night  -  wonderful.


[/quote]

Ah, G, isn't canker something er....rather painful.  And yes, you were quick off the mark; I did get the word wrong to begin with![:$]

Anyway, here is a site with clothes in chanvre:

http://www.filabio.com/?adwords=2&gclid=CMKP_7PRybwCFU_KtAodoA8AHA

In my youth, hemp is something you smoked.  I am quite sure that we never WORE it!

[Chancer]

Yes be carefull using it Sweet17, I am well aware that "you are who you associate with" many parents have tried hard to lead their teenagers into better company after hearing some of the phrases they come out with, some parents even start doing this at nursery school

I am learning the language here like a child and unfortunately the vast majority of the language I hear comes from people that I now realise are the types that my mother would have rather I kept away from.

There are two well educated women that will politely advise me when I am speaking too local, I was struggling to express something in the tourist office, it was "bêtisse" I didnt want to say what was in my head and the young girl filled in the gap for me with "erreur" I thanked her and said that I didnt want to say "connerie" she remarked that it was odd that I knew how to say things in a familiar but not a proper manner, I told her I found it really sad but it was a result of where I live.

The trouble is when I hear something like bien foutu I look around at the expressions of others and see no adverse reaction.

My ex used to comment on the way people from my area spoke especially the students, she joined the train to Amiens a couple of stops further down, I have a interne medecin friend from Compiégne who practices in Amiens, he says he knows straight away when a patient is from my area by their comportment even before their speech.

[Tancrède]

[quote user="sweet 17"]I am quite sure that we never WORE it![/quote]

Yes  -  and there is a very practical reason for that state of affairs :   in our youth there was still a considerable clothes industry in UK, and fibre-producing hemp was (ludicrously, I think) an illicit crop which could only be grown under licence from the Home Office. 

So there was no home-grown raw material readily available for such desirable creations.