Clair, are you paying attention? Useful expressions!

[woolybanana]

Who is the mysterious Clair to whom this thread is addressed? Could she be the poet's mistress, some Greek godless, or just a figment?

[NormanH]

Surely t'was the divine Clair the French moderator fount of much wisdom and knowledge whom we have nor seen for too long....

[woolybanana]

Oh, you mean Clair the Fount. Has she dried up, become Clair the Desert. I always thought of her as Clair the Dessert.

Anyone know where she is?

[mint]

Bonjour, eveybody!

After having been laid low by a dose of continual sneezing last night (seriously, pollen flying everywhere[+o(]), I am back today to égayer your day (innocent smile!)

Thank you for all the suggestions of books of which (dont, Betty if you are there?) I have taken careful note.

I like that story you have mentioned here before, Norman, and I shall be PMing you later today if that's OK?

Cinders, is that story from Suite Française or am I "dis-remembering" the name of the author?

Got to be off now but I have had to pass on the marche nordique today on account of the bourrasques with their accompanying pollen confettis (double [+o(][+o(])

PS I feel it entirely acceptable to mix up the languages on this thread; one of the pleasanter ways of learning words and expressions that you might be puzzled about but have no opportunity to clear up elsewhere!

[ericd]

Speaking Franglais is sometime very useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZvrcjDWc70

[mint]

Eric, thank you for Le grand Meaulnes.  I read your link, sounds like one of those epic sagas for which I am not ready!

The tenuous link to The Great Gatsby was nonetheless interesting.

[suein56]

[quote user="idun"]Here is a lovely french description of ......... well........ do you know it??????

du toc

[/quote]

So, not knowing that word I looked it up and, among the explanations, I found this :

C'est du toc, du bidon, de l'esbroufe

De trompe-l'oeil, du clinquant, du faux-vrai

De la came à balourd, de la mousse

Pour finir c'est l'amour qui fout le camp ...

from 'le soleil des mourants'

Sue

[idun]

 Sue, I had not read that before..... how triste[:(]

I remember friends visiting us and she was wearing a lovely necklace, obviously costume jewellery and as costume jewellery can be, and knowing this friend well, it would have been expensive. So when I said it was lovely, she said it was 'du toc'!

It covers so many things really, but I love it for costume/junk jewellery. Of which I have rather more than ' du vrai'!

[Cendrillon]

"Cinders, is that story from Suite Française or am I "dis-remembering" the name of the author?"

Mint "Le Bal" was written by Irene Nemirovsky the same author who wrote Suite Française but it's a completely different story. It's an easy read, not too long and has a very interesting twist.

[mint]

Loiseau, I thought of you yesterday as you'd mentioned faux ami here recently. I came across a wonderful faux ami, as faux un ami as you could hope to find!

Imagine going into a shop and asking about something you want to buy, a grass cutter, tv, whatever, and the sales assistant says the item is inusable!

I think, up to yesterday, I might have turned my nose up at such a useless object and go and look for something else.

You must admit it doesn't sound anything like it could be hard-wearing, does it?

[Loiseau]

LOL mint!

When I read that, having never seen that word before, I immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion too until I read the rest of your post!

It's like "inhabité", innit? Looks like an easy one, but means the opposite.

Angela

[idun]

I am just going to list words I hear here in France.

Tare. It is with an accent aigu !

Beur. Not heard or seen this as being performative, and I am now wondering if it is?

[mint]

Id, I have had recourse to an online dictionary to look up your words.

Taré is OK I guess as it's nothing worse than crazy or daft or even weirdo and is sort of affectionate.

I am not sure about beur, to mean Arab or North African, because métis, to mean someone of mixed blood is NOT perjorative (and I had that from the great Clair herself many years ago!)

[NormanH]

beurette manages to be not pejorative yet sexist, since it implies 'an Arab girl' in a mildly lascivious way..

beur in verlan gives rebeu

for Taré  there is also jobart or barjot meaning 'crazy'  hence the nickname

Frigide Barjot for the campaigner against same-sex marriage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigide_Barjot

[mint]

Can't wait to share this wonderful faux ami with you, happened upon when doing some googling as advised by halfblind on another thread.

The word is rentable.  Nothing to do with how attractive or otherwise Norman's barrels might be to people looking for accomodation (apologies, Norman, but I thought I'd throw a bait out to old Wooly).

OTOH, Norman's properties might well be just that, rentable, or PROFITABLE!  So, Norman gets the last laugh.

[Chancer]

I am very surprised that you have not come across that one before Mint, its in common use around here and one of the first terms that I learned, your interpretation of it is correct.

 

Now for an admission [:$] I don't really know how to say it in English, I know there is a term but I have long ago forgotten it, when speaking with Franglais friends it became natural to use it in English conversation but unwittingly I have been using the term in the UK (pronounced à la française bien sur!), I now have to study the face of the person that I am speaking to as much in the UK as I do in France to see if they are following me, do they have a bemused look, have I made another bêtise!

[NormanH]

A nice little earner? [6]

worthwhile investment?

[Chancer]

Its been bugging me all day, what is the ruddy word for rentable ?

 

I cant carry on using a French word in English [:(]

 

Its not so much "profitable' but "worth doing"

 

Then on foul mouth gordon Ramseys program tonight i heard it!

 

VIABLE!!!

 

 

[NormanH]

Yes that's a good translation, but I reckon 'rentable' does have a financial implication; it isn't just worth doing.

Think of it having a positive cost/benefit analysis..

[mint]

Chance, I often see plots of land for sale with the notice terrains viabilisés.

I just thought that meant you could build on them but I suppose you could build chicken sheds on them or a factory for canning baked beans?

[Loiseau]

For "rentable", I would say "not worth it", "not worth the cost of doing it", or "it doesn't/wouldn't pay".

It's not the same as "not worth the money" referring to a purchase price, of course.

[EDIT: Thanks Betty for your later post! Of course I meant "PAS rentable" in the above]

As for "viabilisé", I always imagine that it means that they are plots with all services installed: water, electric, drainage.

Angela

[YCCMB]

Don't we just say "financially viable"?

[mint]

Now I am more than a wee bit confused.

Angela and Betty, are you saying the same thing for rentable?

Am I wrong in thinking that rentable means profitable but Angela says it means not worth doing?

So, if Angela is right, rentable would be the opposite of viabilisé?

Please clear this up for me or I shall forever be saying the wrong thing and getting into more energetic arguments than I have been of late!

Finally, is rentable one of those words like à peine which can mean plenty or scarcely or indeed not worth the effort?

[YCCMB]

I can't speak for Angela, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm guessing that "rentable" is most commonly used with a negative or a qualifier.

On its own, it means "financially viable" (I have chosen my own translation and m sticking to it ?)

In my experience, we tend to discuss the rentablilté or financial viability of a thing by qualifying it, which tends to mean that you most commonly hear "Ce n'est pas rentable" or "It's not financially viable", or we hedge our bets with an "if" .y

Perhaps Angela was just thinking along those lines? If not, apologies for putting words into anyone's mouth.

ETA : I think of "viabilisé" in the context of land as "with all services"

[Loiseau]

Doh! Of course I was translating "PAS rentable"; so sorry for the confusion. (I have added an edit to my earlier post to say so.) Agreed, Betty, it always seems to be used with a negative qualifier.

I have usually heard it in casual conversation, hence my slightly less formal translation, but of course "not financially viable" nails it exactly!

Or even, mint, you could say "à peine rentable" !

(BTW, can "à peine" mean "plenty"? I don't think I have ever seen that sense of it.)

Angela