Jump to content

Clair, are you paying attention? Useful expressions!


mint
 Share

Recommended Posts

Oh mint, I yearn to watch your video, but am stuck on a mystery train from Gatwick that is conveying me I know not where... Wanted a simple journey to Clapham Junction, but big probs going that way, so am on a train to Bedford(!) and hoping to jump ship if it stops at a convenient tube station.

You bet I shall be watching it later, if only to see Chancer's table basse!

Angela
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 661
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I did arrive eventually, thanks Cendrillon, but only at about the time you wrote your post! I read about the sink hole only today, so feel I got off comparatively lightly.

Mint, I have just listened to the clip - hysterical! I wonder if the banana will tune in...

And, if my ears are not mistaken, I think it was all in alexandrines! Très classique!

Angela
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, good, Angela!  Alors, tout est bien qui finit bien?[:)]

I will try and find another clip of GCM that I particularly like, not as funny but really quite a different sort of poignancy.

Have you effected in the banana's house the changes that GCM describes?[;-)]

Are all your make-up paraphernalia range along his Jacob Delafont?[:P]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
I was just about to order one of these frontales on Amazon when it occurred to me that one of these lamps would surely draw every creepy crawley under the sun (or in this case, under the moonlight) to buzz around your head?[:-))]

Yikes and double yikes..............THAT I can do without!

Imagine all the mozzies that will then be at complete liberty to find me easily and bite me...........!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Norman, I have found out what écriture normade is and, guess what, normade is just literally wandering.

Today, I had a long walk in the countryside with my walking compagnone who is always good for asking things of and who has lived in various parts of France.  She is, of course, French.

She told me that yesterday she was reccing une petite boucle with the lady who is going to be in charge of the café écriture normade.  Apparently, we are going to walk a bit and then stop and do some writing or, I suppose, at the next stop, we might read what we have written.

She said that she was working out the boucle for us but that she knew nothing about the subject of the exercise.  She said the subject to be written about would be a surprise and that it would all be très littéraire but un petit jeu at the same time.

I think I'll be up for that.  After all, I might not be much good at writing but I AM a strong and committed nordic walker![:D]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Had to rule out the rando littéraire so can't tell you anything about it!

I couldn't go because I sprained my left ankle but that inconvenient injury did result in my learning a new word!

The word is cajoler.  The reply to my message says:  Cajole bien ta cheville et reviens-nous en grande forme.

Obviously, cajoler means take care but does it have any connotations like the English word to cajole?  Doesn't cajole in English mean to get someone to do something somewhat against their inclination, that you have to persuade them and talk them into it?

My second word of the week is grabuge.  I was reading a polar and the witness told the interrogator that his grabuge was.........  So, I deduce that grabuge must mean something like "the thing that bugs me".  It doesn't quite say that in the dictionary (the big, heavy one that I dropped with unerring accuracy on the ankle that was already injured but...I digress!)  It says it means a brawl.  If I wanted to say brawl, I'd say bagarre.  In the context of the story, it doesn't mean brawl either.  The man said there was un grand grabuge going on but then that HIS grabuge was...........whatever it was that he didn' like. 

So, what is the thinking on this one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL mint, just think about an everyday item, Cajoline, named I thought, because it offers tendressse........

.......the English alternative as in cajole, would be to force it to MAKE the washing soft. Love to do a smiley, but cannot on this.

Grabuge, thought it meant when something kicked off, but if it means trouble/bother, then I cannot work out what the last bit means.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cajoline, never even noticed it ever!  I never use soft rinse, I don't reckon it would work in our hard water, I use a small amount of vinegar in the rinse drawer.

But, yes, that Cajoline is a good name for this sort of product[:)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all. Mint, sorry to hear about your ankle.

Cajoler. A grandmother "cajole" her off springs. Takes good care of them. This can also be physical as in stroking an animal but on the sofa by the fire.

Grabuge. Means bother, problems. Y-a du grabuge chez les voisins, j'entends des cris et des pleurs.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="ericd"]Hi Mint and others. Grabuge is a much stronger situation. Grabuge can include death of a human being ...... Bazar is a small issue.[/quote]

But that is exactly it, Eric, somebody DIED! Well, they did in the story[:-))]

The commisaire pointed to a government building, the interior ministry, and said "d'ou le grabuge".

The man he was interviewing was a sans domicile type, sold sponges and slept outside the Paris metro.  He remarked:  Je m'en balance du ministère et je m'en balance de leur grabuge.  Moi, mon grabuge, c'est de vendre 9732 éponges.

He did speak up but not on this occasion. Later he volunteered the necessary information to enable the murderer/s to be caught............much better than real life when lots of murderers escape scot free!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
I've come across a lovely phrase that you could use to praise someone or to rubbish them!

Dying to know what that might be?

Well, if someone has done a good job for you, you could say that s/he was "à la hauteur de la tâche" or, if complaining about someone who has made a hash of something and you are perhaps talking to one of their colleagues or even their boss, you could say, " hélas, il n'est pas exactement à la hauteur de sa tâche!"

Not agressive but getting your point across[:)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Chancer"]Comme "péter plus haut que son cul"[/quote]

Chance, I find 2 problems with your phrase[8-)]

Firstly, I wouldn't use it in "polite" company and secondly, IMHO, it doesn't mean the same thing as à la hauteur de la tâche?

My phrase means up to the task or, more colloquially, on top of your game........................unless you or anyone else think it means something else?

PS la rentrée established now so can you (forum folk) sit up, take notice, bring things to our notice and generally get back to "school"?[:)][:P]   PLEASE!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all. I must side with mint on this one.

Chancer, your expression is more pejorative towards a person who think he/she believes to be of a higher status/advantage/position than yours.

English translations would be " to get on one's high horse" or "to wear a high hat".
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...