ericd Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Is this thread past its sell by date?Would this phrase (in english) not be better rephrased as " Has this thread past its sell by date??" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 ......If the questions keep coming as do the replies, I would say that the thread is surely "courant"?mint ...... the thread would be feminine therefore courant would take an "e".Hence the need for this thread to continue as help to French speakers (or those attempting to .... ;-) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 No I am not a totally "fluent" french speaker - as are probably lots of French people - Occitan is a language in its own right. There are other sites that do help and have a better reference system.This tread, as said before, is not referenced and not useful in the long term. If there are other people wishing to ask questions, then can I suggest that they start a new thread and answers are kept to that topic or amusing anecdotes around that topic.I'd be interested in the views of people on that suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Is this thread past its sell by date? Would this phrase (in english) not be better rephrased as " Has this thread past its sell by date??""QED Eric. What a totally irrelevant comment. I think that both are correct. An opportunity for a few more views/comments methinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 QED Eric. What a totally irrelevant comment. I think that both are correct.Not irrelevant to Mr Richard, hence my question. I also like to improve on my English now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 As a mere scientist I do stand corrected. BUT this tread is current, hence " is it not in the present tense".Good thread drift Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 QUOTE EricdWould this phrase (in english) not be better rephrased as "Has this thread past its sell by date?"END QUOTESorry, Ericd, cos your Englsh is always so perfect, but I think that should read:"Has this thread PASSED its sell-by date."Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 [quote user="ericd"]......If the questions keep coming as do the replies, I would say that the thread is surely "courant"?mint ...... the thread would be feminine therefore courant would take an "e".Hence the need for this thread to continue as help to French speakers (or those attempting to .... ;-) )[/quote]Mais, non, Eric! I take "thread" to be le fil? Et donc, masculin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 [quote user="ericd"]Is this thread past its sell by date?Would this phrase (in english) not be better rephrased as " Has this thread past its sell by date??"[/quote]Actually, no, Eric, richard51 is correct in this instance.You would have to write: Has this thread passed its sell-by date?As in, did he pass O-level French? Yes, he has passed that exam!What was needed was the past participle. "Past" is an adverb. Eg, he walked past without even noticing what was there. Richard, back to you. No, I do not agree about starting new threads all the time. This thread only sounds disjointed to you because you haven't been following it. It's not simply about learning new French words or expressions. Mostly, what is discussed here is about the subtler meanings of both words and expressions and how a French person (such as Eric) would take the word to mean. After all, I could always look up the dictionary meaning but I think I'd miss out on a lot of the nuances to be understood and enjoyed.If, as you say, there are lots of other forums from which you can learn French, then there is nothing to stop you going to learn French elsewhere.As it happens, this thread has served me very well and I rather enjoy the way it goes off here and there (thread drift to you) and you end up in unexpected and charming (or horrifying) places.It's been an enjoyable exploration of both language and culture for me and I have had an incomparable and most patient guide in Eric, amongst others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Loiseau, I was thinking and writing about how to explain"pass" and "past" to Eric when you got there, with your quick thinking, well before my more cumbersome thought processes could enable me to give my explanation. Apologies.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 This one was new to me"un attroupement conséquent "means a large group of people looking for trouble (I think) http://www.midilibre.fr/2016/12/30/beziers-course-poursuite-en-centre-ville-un-policier-blesse,1447078.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 L'oiseau/mint ..... of course ..... I should have picked that one up. Thanks.Norman. Un attroupement consequent just means that more people found themselves together at the same time (they were just lookers on). This doesn't mean they didn't have peaceful intentions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 I suppose it's like "a spontaneous crowd"?As always, I have a fascination with how the French has an adjective for the inhabitants of a town or village so I was delighted to add biterrois to my list! Merci, Norman.Eric, you haven't said whether retrouvailles is ALWAYS in the plural? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Retrouvailles. Always plural. ...... like "toujours" . My Mother always said "a toujours il y a toujours un S" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Helpful as always, thanks, Eric.Retrouvailles was totally unknown to me until yesterday when I received an email from a friend who had been away for the funeral of her mother. She said they had les retrouvailles where she saw her brother with whom she'd lost contact for a couple of decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 So I suppose "meeting up again" would be our equivalent, though that sounds rather more cumbersome in English than in French. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 [quote user="Loiseau"]So I suppose "meeting up again" would be our equivalent, though that sounds rather more cumbersome in English than in French.[/quote]reunion? As in:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_Reunion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I think a reunion in English has overtones of being organised, rather than happenstance, Norman.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Tough if people think this thread is "past its sell-by" date, is too long, you can't find anything in it, etc etc etc.I am choosing this thread to showcase (yeah, suitably OTT word!) a word new to me today. PLUS I think that the French media must think they know something that perhaps the British media don't!So here's in the French "news": La reine a frôlé a la mort.We could all say that someone of that age is perhaps frôlering with death! OTOH, did anyone see la à télé the French gentleman of 105 who did some time trial in a velodrome and lifting weights in a gym!What a fantastic oldie he is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Going back to "retrouvailles" - I remember that I first learned this word from Christophe's song Les Mots Bleus:Je lui dirai les mots bleus Les mots qu'on dit avec les yeux Toutes les excuses que l'on donne Sont comme les baisers que l'on vole Il reste une rancœur subtile Qui gâcherait l'instant fragile De nos retrouvailles De nos retrouvailles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Had our own retrouvailles this afternoon, mais oui!OH had taken our dog out for one of their regular walks. I got home from a function and, within minutes, OH rang to say that he had lost the dog!I jumped in our other car and went to where I knew they would be. This is an area of dry marshes and we have walked there for years. Only difference now is that the poor dog is near blind and almost completely deaf and has dementia. So no good however hard you holler or whistle, etc as she wouldn't hear you.Combed the site, split up and did a search. On and on it went. OH had met with 2 walkers before my arrival and told them what dog to look out for.When there was little hope left that we'd find her and, as a last resort, we jumped in the car I'd arrive in to drive around the nearest village. Normally, you'd be lucky to find anyone to ask anything of, especially on a Sunday afternoon but, this afternoon, we struck lucky!Anyway, we passed this old house in the village and we saw 3 women outside. I asked them if they'd seen our dog. Immediately they said, "oui, on l'a trouvée!" The joy, disbelief and awe were indescribable. So then, I asked so where is she? They said oh 2 persons, (one of whom was the owner of the house) have left in the car to look for your grey car, the grey car that is that OH had taken the dog out in.Anyway, so as not to prolong the story and bore everybody, it turned out that 2 of the women were the very walkers that OH had met and they knew he had a grey car and that he was anglais.The man had put our dog in his car and gone off in search of "une voiture grise avec un anglais". To cut a long story short, tout va bien qui finit bien. We had les grands retrouvailles and our dog has been restored to us.To think that she is over 13 and would have been in sheer panic and that she had found this household of people très sympa who went in search of her owner and her car! Not only that, she has had tremendous problems with her back legs and has trouble getting out of her bed and is now often doubly incontinent; it was nothing short of a miracle!Just had to post that, prolonging the thread unnecessarily or not, off topic or not. I am after all suffering from post traumatic stress and doggie is at last sleeping off her adventure though not before I had to bath her thoroughly from head to foot and she still smells of manure and the distance she would have covered on her poor old legs would have been in excess of 3 miles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Mint, blow prolonging threads and being off topic - who cares, apart from pedants! I'm so happy all turned out so well, you must both have been in despair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 For anyone following closely the recent French election, I hope you found lots and lots of new words and expressions to learn?I followed the last election (that of Hollande's) closely too but this time, I know more French and everything is just that much more interesting.........and that wasn't exclusively down to Macron being an interesting man! Mind you, his photo in our mairie, when it does arrive, will be a great deal more pleasing on the eye than poor old Hollande's.............oops, being shallow here[:)]Back to the point of my post. Can I ask whether perron can only be used for "impressive" steps like the ones outside the presidential palace or can you use the word for any old outside steps? I don't have any steps leading up to my house so I won't be able to use my new mot du jour, but I'd still like to know if the steps have to be imposants before you call them le perron? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 For anyone following closely the recent French election, I hope you found lots and lots of new words and expressions to learn?I followed the last election (that of Hollande's) closely too but this time, I know more French and everything is just that much more interesting.........and that wasn't exclusively down to Macron being an interesting man! Mind you, his photo in our mairie, when it does arrive, will be a great deal more pleasing on the eye than poor old Hollande's.............oops, being shallow here[:)]Back to the point of my post. Can I ask whether perron can only be used for "impressive" steps like the ones outside the presidential palace or can you use the word for any old outside steps? I don't have any steps leading up to my house so I won't be able to use my new mot du jour, but I'd still like to know if the steps have to be imposants before you call them le perron? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Hi mint. Any size "stone staircase" has a perron. I remember my Great Great grandmother talking about plants (geranium) on her "perron". It was a small one with 1/2 steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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