ericd Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 All. Hello from Nairobi where I am sitting in the 15th floor lounge on the Hilton. Cloudy but warm."Rentable" .... It means that a situation, deal etc. is worth doing as "unlikely to lose".Angela needs to take her tablets more (or less) often ....."Pas rentable" is the contrary as in "not worth doing". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 *sigh* eric. Happy memories, although I always stayed at the Norfolk. Many long years ago the manager at the Nairobi Hilton was a friend of a friend. They offer one of the adventures that's very near the top of my bucket list: a dawn hot-air balloon ride over the Masai Mara, met at the end by a team with a champagne breakfast. One day..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 [quote user="Loiseau"] (BTW, can "à peine" mean "plenty"? I don't think I have ever seen that sense of it.) Angela[/quote]"a peine" in this case "a peine rentable" means hardly worth the bother."a peine" is often used for meaning "a little of" it never means "loads/lots".. Various examples:- Il faut mettre un peu de sel dans la pate a crepe, mais "a peine", un soupcon.- Tu tournera le robinet a gauche pour avoir de l'eau chaude mais "a peine" sinon tu a de l'eau bouillante.- Au restaurant, tu fais "a peine" un geste de la main et 2 serveurs viennent voir ce qu'il te faut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Al !!! Thanks but no thanks, I have just read your Email to my wife (sat opposite me) who now wants to do this dawn hot air balloon rise ...... Could you just reply it's not available during May/June ?As for the Hilton hotel Manager, I will pass on your best regards hoping for a couple of free cocktails in exchange.Went to "Talisman" last night an the food was great. Leaving "Carnivore" for departure date a week Friday.Visiting here for 2 weeks as eldest daughter's work took her here for 2 years. Off to the Indian Ocean coast at the weekend (youngest daughter joining us from the UK) but heading to http://www.sanctuaryfarmkenya.com/index.php/home tomorrow morningfor 2 nights :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Eric, I doubt the manager of the Hilton is the same bloke now! The Carnivore is fab, but I personally advise to give the crocodile a swerve. It's like meat-flavoured chewing gum!I still have one of their barbecue aprons.Enjoy! Take plenty of mozzie repellent to the coast, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Carnivore is no longer the same since they stopped (by local authority request) offering zebra and other "odd" sounding pieces of meat. Last time I came they had buffalo balls which were ok but so strong in flavour. I agree, crcodile is tough and tasteless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 Might be back later on here but no time for now. However, just in case Norman is as bad at reading his PMs as he used to be, I need to say that I will be sending you a PM prochainement (I like that word a lot, not too precise[:)]) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Hadn't realised how much friends (and me) used 'se regaler' until this visit.They are good are at rale'ing too, but never hesitate to say when things 'please'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 One that I am hearing all the time but comparatively recently is galérer, I am only guessing at the spelling, now initially I misunderstood it (I think) as meaning someone was winging or moaning about the difficulty of something, now I believe it means that they had/are/will have difficulty/find something tricky/difficult. Now here is the thing, I dont know how to express "galérer" in English without a long description but I feel there is a simple verb that I have forgotten, is there? and is "galérer" a modern buzz word? or is it that my ears have only just tuned in to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 struggle? a bit of a struggle..having a hard time/lot of hassle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Chancer, you have the correct meaning. The word has been around for as long as I can remember.We also say " quelle galere" when talking about a situation that is causing/has caused us hassle.Les pauvres, ils ont galere toute la journee mais la terrasse est maintenant terminee.The word comes from "galere" when prisonners were sent to spent some time rowing in the under belly of a ship as often seen in Roman times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 LOL Chancer, even now some still talk about me asking what galere meant.In the late 80's I was at a school meeting when we were organising stuff for the xmas show and raising money. Jeff.....kept saying about all suggestions that is was la galere and he must have said it at least 10 times, and I just put my hand up and when all stopped talking I said in a little voice.... 'c'est quoi la galere?' Everyone was highly amused and explained........ and said that it came from galley ships....... which was what I had suspected..... but had already misunderstood too many things to not ask. When the same expression came up the next year and all subsequent ones, there was always a little nod to me.And Jeff, well that is Jean-Francois, know quite a few and they are the initials......... geee efff and it sounds like Jeff in english, with a french accent bien sur[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Yes but the French pronounce it Jeff without enunciating the syllables like they do with J-P (Gee-Pé) or my own moniker Gee-éhr (J.R.) I have communicated with a few Jean-Francoises in writing and called them Jeff. I have never heard a Jean-Marc referred to as Gee-emm. And then there was Joffré who turned out to be a Geoffrey [:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I have always had a penchant for creating good nicknames for awkward/eccentric people, it confuses the hell out of the French because they just arent used to it but as I use nicknames that sound like peoples names they are forced to ask who I am talking about, when I tell them its a surnom for so and so they find it really hilarious and like in the UK often the nicknames stick and are taken up by others, in fact its probably the only humour that I have success with in France.The majority of the C.M. of my village now refer to M. le Maire as Allé behind his back and a couple to his face, he claims to be à l'écoute but nothing could be further from the truth, I nicknamed one person Pita and now there are several, they really like that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I'm not what would be referred to as a regular in here but when I read this from our own 'Complete France' magazine I thought of all you francophiles here. Perhaps you are already aware of its existance and have read it .....in which case I'll get my coat.regardscajal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 29, 2016 Author Share Posted May 29, 2016 Nice to see you on here, Cajal. Actually, lists of expressions alone are not much use and they do not give a context and wouldn't necessarily enable the reader to use them effectively or even correctly.Anyway, when I first started the thread, I put "useful expressions" to try and draw people in and take part.A quick dip into the thread will enable you to see that we discuss words, ways to use them correctly, cultural differences, connotations (how, for example, some words are negative in English but not so in French, or the other way round) and we tell amusing stories, especially how we made many faux pas, socially and linguistically in the course of our coming to grips with the language.Many have generously contributed especially those with a better knowledge of French than the majority on here. Eric's contributions are always of interest because he is after all a "proper" Frenchman who is also thoroughly anglicised!Talking about Eric, I am now back to à peine. Eric, I accept what you say that it could never mean "plenty" but only ever means barely enough. I must be confusing it with our own English saying about "enough unto the day" or "enough is as good as a feast" rather along the lines of à chaque jour suffit sa peine.I think I must have been brainwashed from childhood to think that "scarcely enough" always means you have had plenty and do not need any more....lol!PM for Norman, if he is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 Cajal, we covered most of the list when I took French classes here in the Gard; I find them interesting, especially when backed up by pictures/illustrations. Some I rarely hear/use although of course such expressions as pleuvoir des cordes and faire un pont are in everyday use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 I remember a nightmare evening I had many years ago when my eldest came home with such expressions as 'homework'....... you know that stuff that they were not supposed to give out, en ecole primaire, but always did!No internet then and we knew about two out of ten of such expressions. Had to find other parents who did, what a rotten wet autumn evening it was. Yes, I know these expressions now, but just how is that 'education'? And he was going to be marked on it, and the teacher knew that his parents were etrangers. It wasn't as if they had done them in class, just doled out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 Mint, I wonder if you could have been confusing "pleine" with "à peine" years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 No, loiseau, not confused but I guess that à peine is as good as pleine!After all, I am not an advocate for too much of anything.......but I did like Liberace's "too much of a good thing is absolutely marvellous"[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Just a thought, preferred to have my car 'pleine' last week than to avoir la peine de trouver l'essence.[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 And I expect you were pleine de joie when you made it home, id?[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Our mais avec a peine assez d'essence pour remplir un reservoir ....Thanks for kind comments Mint. At moment enjoying Indian Ocean 200km south of Monbassa with family. ..... sorry had to come clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 ah oui, what it is for les nantis[:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Bon après-midi pour les francophilesNice to see you on here, Cajal. Nice to be here mint.Actually, lists of expressions alone are not much use and they do not give a context and wouldn't necessarily enable the reader to use them effectively or even correctly.Au contraire. Ma motivation était de ne pas vous dire tout comment sucer les œufs.As Archant, the company who own the magazine and consequently the 'France Forum' where we hang out, had published an article of idioms in 'Complete France' I thought it would be a gesture to create a link to that article. This board and this particular thread seemed the most appropriate location for a link-to for such an article.especially how we made many faux pas, socially and linguistically in the course of our coming to grips with the language.Two of mine:l'homme de poste (facteur)week-end de vacances de banque (faire le pont)regardscajal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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