Clair, are you paying attention? Useful expressions!

[mint]

So what accent would that have been in?[:)]

[NormanH]

15th Century..

http://www.frenchtoday.com/french-poetry-reading/villon-epitaphe-ballade

Despite her French name she has some curious North American (Canadian?) sounds in her pronunciation....

[Loiseau]

Ah, Norman, I always wondered where that phrase about the neiges d'antan came from! In fact, is "d'antan" itself as nostalgic as " jadis" - only more so? I wonder what the difference is? Like saying "in the old days" as opposed to saying "in times gone by" or "Yesteryear", maybe?

Mint, I was proud of myself yesterday for managing to work into a conversation with a neighbour: "Il a d'autres chats à fouetter" !

Angela

[YCCMB]

Loiseau and mint, you two are reminding me of this Eddie Izzard sketch about learning French...trying to work things into the conversation isn't always easy!

(Pee Ess: please don't watch if you don't have a very broad English vocabulary, if you see what I mean)

http://youtu.be/x1sQkEfAdfY

[NormanH]

At school we learned :

"Where are the snows of Yesteryear?"

which is in fact what the translated version on my link above gives too..

Staying wildly off topic since you are two highly cultivated ladies here is another of my favorites from  earllier times:

http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/pierre_de_ronsard/mignonne_allons_voir_si_la_rose.html

Beautifully sung here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OALJkM8v2-Y

[YCCMB]

I take it I'm excluded from the "highly cultivated ladies" remark, as you actually quantified it, Norman!

???

(Must be my preference for multilingual stand-up transvestite comedians )

[NormanH]

I assumed that you have no need of my recommendations since you have a vastly superior knowledge of both the French language and its literature than I have.[:D]

That is sincere by the way, not sarcasm

[Loiseau]

LOL, I thought *I* was the excluded one Betty!! (Maybe it's mint?)

Angela

EDIT

Just managed to work my way into your link, Betty, and to hear the E Izzard piece. Very funny!

[Loiseau]

Ooooh yes, Norman. I remember that poem; we had to learn it at school. Indeed, the first few lines often trip through my head, as i have a fabulous "Pierre de Ronsard" rose in my Vendee garden, which is becoming more prolific each summer. I have to say that its colour is not "pourprée" though; more of a creamy white, edged with pink.

Angela

[YCCMB]

I'll take that, Norman, thank you. Although I didn't study or read many pomes in French. In fact, strangely, with the exception of a bit of obligatory Voltaire, Molière and Zola, my forays into the literature of France, whether for education or relaxation, have largely been confined to the 20th century.

[suein56]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Loiseau and mint, you two are reminding me of this Eddie Izzard sketch about learning French...trying to work things into the conversation isn't always easy!

(Pee Ess: please don't watch if you don't have a very broad English vocabulary, if you see what I mean)

http://youtu.be/x1sQkEfAdfY[/quote]

Oh my goodness, such a blast from the past. Gosh, I am finding it hard to take in that this sketch was from 2006. My daughter bought me the DVD for my birthday as I was such a fan of Eddie Izzard.

Still have a sneaking admiration for someone who will run so many marathons for such good causes.

Sue

[mint]

Have learnt a new word today:  le gabarit.

I was looking on line to buy cushion foam for cushions, seats, etc  as the old ones are looking shabby next to the new, slick kitchen....roll eyes and sigh!

I wrote to the company and asked them if they could cut the foam to the exact shape of my old cushions.  Not knowing another phrase than "selon les modèles" (and I only knew that phrase after years of French classes when you have to complete an exercise selon le modèle!), if I traced out the old shapes on paper and sent them on.

No problem, they replied, we will cut them according to the gabarit that you send us.

I do know what a gabarre is and even a bagarre but a gabarit is definitely a new one on me[:D]

[YCCMB]

Mint, have you never seen "Hors Gabarit " written on road signs?

[mint]

Hélas, Betty, non[:-))]

They must have passed me by or rather I must have passed them by[:$]

[mint]

[quote user="Loiseau"]LOL, I thought *I* was the excluded one Betty!! (Maybe it's mint?)

Angela

EDIT

Just managed to work my way into your link, Betty, and to hear the E Izzard piece. Very funny![/quote]

Deffo, he means ME, loiseau!

But, hey, I am not proud and as Ronnie Corbett says in that famous sketch re the social classes, "I know my place"!

[Gardengirl]

I know gabarit with reference to the height of bridges etc and the garabit bridge in the Auvergne, built by Eiffel.

[idun]

I was thinking hors gabarit from road signs and also refers as a description to someones size, ie petit or grand gabarit.

[NormanH]

Yes you often hear sport's commentators refer to a player's 'gabarit' when they speak of someone with an 'imposante carrure'.

"Une armoire à glace" or in vulgar[6] English 'built like a brick s***house"

 

[mint]

Grammar book, as discussed by Betty and me earlier, has arrived.  As I couldn't wait to get stuck in, I went through the first couple of easy chapters, highlighter and pencil in hand.

So nice to WRITE on books with impunity, having been brought up NEVER to write on books.  I still sometimes find it difficult to go against that rule![:-))]

I haven't bought the accompanying book with the answers because I just know that I would go straight for the answers if I were struggling a bit.

Today, to check on something, I just used the site Reverso.  It's good to reason things out for yourself because then you are really learning and committing to memory.

I reckon 30 minutes a day and working steadily would set me straight on many aspects of French grammar.  And I hope you are all going to be on "stand-by" (a phrase that was discussed on the tv recommendation thread) to discuss, help, advice when I get stuck[kiss].......yes, I know, sycophantic and currying favour (whatever the French phrase for that is!)

[Loiseau]

Couldn't resist googling a translation of that, mint, as I confess I didn't have a clue:

"chercher à s'attirer les bonnes grâces de qn"

Yuk, not very pithy, is it?!

Angela

[mint]

Some of these expressions do not bear translation, a bit like book titles.  I mean les raisins de cholère (or something like that, not bothered to look it up) is nothing like The Grapes of Wrath is it?

Reading through my previous post to see what you were replying to, Angela, I have made the unforgivable error (in my book) of using "advice" instead of "advise"......so, you see the French might get a bit better but the English is going to slide downhill[+o(]

[idun]

And yes it is Les Raisins de la Cholere, and what a literal translation. Others are far harder.

Is it the same, well, feels like it to me.

Of films, well the french really got it wrong with Piege de Cristal as there was only a lot of 'glass' in the first film, maybe someone thought it sounded rather more poetic/fancy than something like mourir dur!

[NormanH]

You probably know this list, which has some rather strange ones on it but some are interesting:

http://www.anglaisfacile.com/free/proverbes.php

For example here

Cervelle inoccupée, le diable y trouve tente dressée

An empty brain is the devil's shop

I would have said "the devil makes work for idle hands"

[YCCMB]

One of my favourite books, which is great because it comes in a beautifully illustrated BD format, using the illustrations from the Blake and Mortimer BD is "Nom d' une Pipe! (Name of a Pipe!) by Jean-Loup Chiflet (John-Wolf Whistle), - the author of "Ciel! Mon Mari"

It gives the literal translations of many common French idiomatic expressions along with the equivalent English idioms, and does the same in translating English idioms into French.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/English-French-Dictionary-Running-idioms-Fran%C3%A7ais-Anglais/dp/2913588581/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461425622&sr=1-1&keywords=Name+Of+a+pipe

And I know I'm picky, but ladies, are you confusing anger with cholera?

[mint]

Oops, pardon.....I meant to write colère, honest![:$]

Talking about cholera, I really enjoyed Love at the Time of Cholera when it was read as the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4.

Must have a scout round and see if it's been translated into French.  I should imagine so as it's the sort of slow moving and nostalgic story that the French would love.

Thanks for all the posts, guys, full of tips and info.  Keep them coming, won't you?