Clair, are you paying attention? Useful expressions!

[mint]

Eric, thank you and what a pleasure it is to "see" you here again![:D]

I don't have even a single step to the front door so no perron but outside our petit salon downstairs, there are a couple of steps to garden level so that will be my perron the very next time a French person come to visit us![:D]

[mint]

Eric, we do have another perron!  The stone staircase leads from the upper level of our house to the lower garden and has 14 steps as well as a quarter turn so it is a pretty perron and, if/when we have to sell the house, I shall describe this as un très joli perron avec ses pots de fleurs![:D]

Thank you again for the French lessons you provide with such authority and clarity!

[mint]

I love macronomics for macroeconomics[:D]

[ericd]

Eric, thank you and what a pleasure it is to "see" you here again!

Hi mint. I'm here and often reading but some of the questions asked do not need my input.

J'avais rien d'interessant a dire !

[Gardengirl]

<< J'avais rien d'interessant a dire ! >>

That doesn't stop some people! ?

[NormanH]

YOU TALKING ABOUIT ME? (aggressive look) [:P]

[Gardengirl]

Oh, Norman, you're a pussycat - and a really helpful one too. ?

[mint]

So, how do you say au cas où?

Now I am generally quite good at making les petites liaisons when it is elegant or obligatoire to do so.  With this phrase, all my friends and neighbours say au cas où and that is therefore what I say and I am easily understood.

However, I met a man today who said au ca zoù.  I asked him whether that was the way it should be said.  He told me it depended on which part of France you are from as to how you say it.  And here in the south-west, I prompted him?

He laughed and said that in the south-west, we pay little attention to things like that and not to accent either.  Yes, yes, I can hear many of you saying, it doesn't bloody matter.  But I am a student of the language and these types of little details hold endless fascination for me.

Tell me, then, what do YOU say or, more importantly, what do your friends and associates say?

Ericd, what do YOU say?[:)]

[woolybanana]

Nimty, did you manage to find the little book I suggested? I am waiting for my little bird to get back from sailing the seas so we can play a parlour game based on the expressions.

[woolybanana]

The site forvo.com is good for hearing the pronunciation of these phrases and gives both pronunciations though they seem a little slow.

[NormanH]

I say 'en ca ou' with no "z".

I have never heard it with...

[mint]

Since reading your replies, Wooly and Norman, I did a bit of googling and the following is quite illuminating:

[url]https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/au-cas-o%C3%B9-le-cas-%C3%A9ch%C3%A9ant-liaison.552314/[/url]

What I think the most elegant way to do it is to say au cas où if you are beginning a sentence with it (followed by a phrase) or to say au ca zou if you are ending a sentence.  And, indeed, the man I spoke to used it at the end of his sentence, if I remember correctly.

Makes a change for me to speak to a well-spoken man instead of exchanging friendly banter with friends and neighbours.

Wools, I found that book but I think it might be a bit too "difficult" for me.  I do have a box of cards which is in the form of a game with French expressions which a French friend gave me a couple of years ago.  If only I could find where I have put it for safe-keeping.................[:$]

[Chancer]

Surely he is just pronouncing the silent "s" and not a Z?

 

I think that I have heard it pronounced at the end of a sentence, next time I hear it spoken it will sonner une cloche with me!!

[mint]

Chance, of course, a single "s" sounds like a "z".  Two ss's however would sound like an English "s": un désert and un dessert.

I used a "z" to reproduce the sound correctly, that's all.

[ericd]

Hello all. Just reading post.

Au cas ou (with accent grave on the "u"). Pronounce "au ca-z-ou".

[mint]

Merci, Eric, now I know!  Just waiting for the very next time I can say it and do it with aplomb[:D]

[NormanH]

Even the French can't agree [:D]

https://fr.forvo.com/word/au_cas_o%C3%B9/

[ericd]

That's where regional and educational differences come in Norman. Both are said. Thinking of it ..... I personally say " au qua ou" ....

[mint]

OK, tried out au ca zou yesterday and it was understood and not corrected!

Must be the way I look slightly puzzled when I speak French because people often correct me, whether it's the wrong word or the word is mispronounced.

The person was a highly trained surgeon who had last worked in Lyon so, ericd, she'd have had lots of education though I don't really know which region she is from ...ha, ha!

[ericd]

Spoke about this "O K zoo" when in France ...... both are actually said "O K Zoo" and " O K Hoo".

[mint]

My absolute favourite word this week is l'ouragan! [:D]

You can really hear it howling, can't you?

I think Wooly calls it a "hoolie" or some word like that as only he can do with conviction[:)]

[woolybanana]

Ah, Nimt, you remembered. The word is either Irish or from the Scottish Islands. I suspect it is often used by sailors.

I like the idea (mine!) that it refers to some American kid loose with a gun - hence Hooligun!!!!

[mint]

I've fallen in love with a brand new word this week[:D]

Here it is:

Elle plaça les assiettes, les couverts, les verres et tout le TINTOUIN sur une table ronde, et servi.

Just so expressive and you can guess at what else might have been put down!

[Loiseau]

Oh, I love it mint! Thank you. I shall do my best to use it too!!

[ericd]

Arretez de nous embeter avec votre "tintouin" de mots nouveaux .... :-)