How do the French manage to pick up such weird words?

[ssomon]

Headline HERE shows that the total lack of understanding the meaning of a foreign word doesn't inhibit its use.

[Lori]

I had to look it up.  I wasn't sure what they were trying to say.  I've not seen the word used in this way.

 

 

[betise]

Oh, I don't know, when we talk about doping cyclists, or sportsmen generally, don't we mean improving their chances?

[NormanH]

"Doper" in French means to "administer a stimulant", 'give a boost'  etc

[Di.ma.brd.]

Hi everyone

please tell me how animals are called in different regions of France ?

i mean how they would call cat in the north , south, west or east of France, or even the different regions 

 

[Harnser]

Where on earth did the French get these words from?

cacahuète  = Peanut
huile d'arachide  = Peanut oil

A total mystery.

[ssomon]

Does this help solve the mystery?

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachide

?

[menthe]

Thanks ssomon, now I know!?  I use groundnut oil (peanut oil doesn't sound right either?) for all frying, olive oil for salads and roasting and the "quatre d'huiles" stuff for making cakes.

I used to wonder a bit at "profiter" to mean take advantage of, make the most of as in "c'est le beau temps, on en profite".  But now I can see how nice it is to mention "profit" with no reference to anything to do with money!!!

The other word I like is "insister" to mean, persevere, keep at it, etc.

I think I make wonderful and often amusing discoveries in the French langue everyday.

 

 

[Harnser]

14 hours ago, menthe said:

Thanks ssomon, now I know!?  I use groundnut oil (peanut oil doesn't sound right either?) for all frying, olive oil for salads and roasting and the "quatre d'huiles" stuff for making cakes.

I used to wonder a bit at "profiter" to mean take advantage of, make the most of as in "c'est le beau temps, on en profite".  But now I can see how nice it is to mention "profit" with no reference to anything to do with money!!!

The other word I like is "insister" to mean, persevere, keep at it, etc.

I think I make wonderful and often amusing discoveries in the French langue everyday.

 

 

Our household name for peanut oil is "spider oil" 

ARACHnophobia!

[menthe]

Harnser, I'd happily buy a large bottle of spider oil, except it is now unavailable where I live.  Not Leclerc, not Intermarché and I don't know what other oil I would want to fry with.

Also couldn't find any huile de pépin (is that what it's called?).  That also has a high boiling point and doesn't smoke.

All the oil available seems to be sunflower or colza and I really do not like to fry with either as there is always a smell of frying with them.

Might try some bigger supermarkets when I make one of my rare forays to Périgueux later in the week.

Happy Spider Oil hunting!

[Harnser]

Colza oil or rapeseed oil is the frying oil of choice for UK chippies  as they don't use lard anymore, as least down south, I don't know what they do up in the festering north with their whippets, caps and mufflers? 

[menthe]

Don't know if you include Scotland by the "north".  As for frying Mars bars, I am not sure which oil they do use.

Trouble with cheaper oils is that I can smell them frying and think of the Fun Fair in Porthcawl (where I last lived before France) or Barry Island.  It always smells like cheap, stale fat.

I don't do deep fry but shallow fry quite a lot of foods.

[anotherbanana]

Have you ever tried dry frying, Minteroonie?

[Harnser]

Looking further into this it seems that palm oil is also used by UK chip shops as it lasts longer. I've no idea what colza/rapeseed oil smells like when frying as OH cannot eat food fried in or containing colza as it upsets her stomach badly.

My joke about the north was a workplace joke/ banter from long ago - apologies to anybody who hails from there.

[menthe]

23 hours ago, anotherbanana said:

Have you ever tried dry frying, Minteroonie?

Yes indeed, I have been looking at dry fryers but still undecided whether I want or have place for yet another gadget in my kitchen.  I reorganised and refitted my kitchen a few years ago and now it is the most clutter-free room in my entire house (including the sous-sol)

Do you have a dry fryer, Wools?  Are they as versatile as the advertising hyperboles claim?  Serious question;

[menthe]

Talk about totally unexpected meanings of French words.  I was watching the gardening programme "Silence, ça pousse" and they were talking about the saule crevette.....🤔

I thought a crevette was a prawn but I couldn't for the life of me think what a prawn would be doing in the garden.  I googled it and found that a saule crevette is in fact a weeping willow!!!

And yes I am still in utter disbelief....

 

[Lori]

Yes, I remember that from way back.  We had a weeping willow tree in our front yard when I was a youngster.  Apparently, the roots spread far and wide.  They took over our septic tank and 'killed' it.  My parents had to remove the tree and replace the septic tank.  I've never forgotten it.  So, when we moved here, I had to look up the name so I could be sure to avoid them.  Very strange name.

[EuroTr@sh]

I suppose the outline of a weeping willow has a slight resemblence to the shape of a prawn? OK, it's a bit of a stretch.

It really bugged me at the start of season here at the campsite that the electronic key fob thingies that you stick in the slot to open the barrier, are called "badges". Because, that's not what a badge is.

But then I thought, what the heck do we call them in English anyway? And I have to admit that saying "voici votre badge pour la barrière" is a lot slicker than saying "here's your electronic key fob thingy to open the barrier". So by the end of season I've almost got reconciled to calling them badges.

Edited August 26, 2022 by EuroTr@sh

[ssomon]

Could crevette be derived in some way from the verb crever?

Most car drivers in the UK seem to call the remote control gizmos to open car doors etc. simply "fobs", so I think that would also be used for similar devices in general. Try referring to them as fobs to your colleagues. It might catch on. "Un fob" may sound appealing to the French.

Edited August 26, 2022 by ssomon

[EuroTr@sh]

They're not actually remote control, nothing so hi tec - they're more like plastic keys that you have to put inside the slot. If that makes any difference. Maybe they can still be un fob.

[ssomon]

I'm all for UN FOB!

[menthe]

Just remembered another one; cliché for an x-ray plate.

Took me a while to get my head round that one.  So, you can imagine the flourish with which I produced my latest mammographie x-rays and asked:  vous voulez jeter un coup d'oeil à mes clichés?

[EuroTr@sh]

22 hours ago, menthe said:

Just remembered another one; cliché for an x-ray plate.

Took me a while to get my head round that one.  So, you can imagine the flourish with which I produced my latest mammographie x-rays and asked:  vous voulez jeter un coup d'oeil à mes clichés?

I think cliché only sounds odd in that sense to us Engleesh because we've nicked it and use it differently. Its primary meaning in French has always been to do with photography and printing and images hasn't it. I suppose its other meaning kind of stems from that, the idea of taking one very basic snapshot and using it as a standard template in all kinds of situations.

[menthe]

Well then is cliché what we'd call a negative, you know, before digital photography and we used rolls of film?

[EuroTr@sh]

Yes exactly. According to Larousse:

 cliché

nom masculin

(de clicher)

• 1. Phototype négatif servant au tirage des épreuves.
• 2. Vieux. Toute photographie : Montrer ses clichés de vacances.
• 3. Lieu commun, banalité qu'on redit souvent et dans les mêmes termes ; poncif.

  Synonymes :

  banalité - lieu commun - poncif - stéréotype

and the verb clicher is to do with typesetting

 

 clicher

verbe transitif

(peut-être radical onomatopéique exprimant le bruit sec de la matrice)

• Couler un alliage métallique dans l'empreinte prise sur une forme typographique.