No strings attached.....

[mint]

Thought I'd post this as a sort of joke against myself.

OH had offered to re-string someone's violin for them and we'd been going back and forth to a little music shop about half and hour's drive away to get some new strings.

On the third visit and finding the shop still closed with a sign to say "back in half an hour", we'd decided that it would be easier to order by post.  Walked round the car park with the dog once and thought we'd give it our very last shot.

Got back to the shop and found, wonder of wonders, a white van parked outside.  There was even a man sitting inside.

So, after the preliminary greeting s and after I had established that it was indeed his shop, I asked him whether he had "des fils de violon"?  OK, OK, I should have looked it up in the Robert Collins and  I did know that dental floss was fil dentaire and that surgical stitches were also fils because I had some put in and removed!  To my mind, violin strings are not much thicker than dental floss or stitches.

"Fils de violon!", he snorted and the derision was unmistakable.  OK then, I said, "Est-ce que vous avez des strings de violon?"

"Strings?" he queried as though it was some sort of  dirty "s" word and not to be spoken above a whisper.  At my vigorous nods, he said, did you mean "cordes de violon?"  Well, as they say, you could have knocked me down with a feather!

Cords, but cords are big and thick!  I know that a washing line is a "corde de linge" but violin strings are not thick like a washing line, now is it?

To cut a long story short, we all went into his shop and, when I asked for an A and a D string, he told me he only sold the strings in "sets"!  SETS, aha, so he speaks English or is "sets" a French word?  I don't know and I can't now be bothered to look it up.

At the end of our transaction, he'd given me the name of an "accordeur" for my piano; we parted on the best of terms and he shook hands with me and the OH and patted the dog.

Will teach me not to get above myself and assume that I'll get by and remember that, after all, I've only lived here 18 months or so and that my French is only elementary.

 

[chessfou]

"String" = G-string (but not the type you put on a violin) or Tanga ...

[Frenchie]

Sweet 17, don't worry !!

these are specific technical words...

People would also have smiled in the UK if I had entered a shop and asked for violin " cords"... [;-)]

Your French is getting better all the time ( already heard that somewhere before ... [:)] ) , and so, keep up the good work !!

[kiss]

[Cat]

The multiple choice French conundrum that always gets me is the correct word for a handle. 

What do I care if it's on a cup, door, wheelbarrow, basket or saucepan? 

[mint]

[quote user="chessfou"]"String" = G-string (but not the type you put on a violin) or Tanga ...
[/quote]

Oh, Chess, what on earth would the man have thought![:$]

Well then, if a string is a G-string, what do you call a "thong"?  I don't mean the thing that you tie something up with or do I mean that as well as the thing you wear?

Now you've got me thoroughly confused and you'll have to explain it all.

[Frenchie]

Until now, I thought a thong = what we call a string in France..

Now I need explanations too !!

[blink]

[:D]

[Cat]

Frenchie, In English (or more usually, Australian English) a thong might also be called a flip-flop (FR = tong).

It can also mean un ligature, or une laniére, un lacet or un string/ficelle (knickers to you S17, in the nicest possible way, of course).

Getting the meaning confused could well end in red faces all round [:-))]

[chessfou]

Yes, it does get confusing doesn't it ...

Not sure how come I know so much about women's underwear ... [:$] but ...

Aussies of both sexes wear rubber thongs ... on their feet but in most/all other English speaking countries (including now the US), thongs (not generally made of rubber although I suppose that some such are sold ...) are worn ... higher up. They are also apparently worn by 4-20% of US males.

French "string" = G-string (also T-string and V-string, according to straps and ties - see wikipedia for the differences), Tanga or Thong.

Anyone else remember the old Goon song (written by Spike Milligan): "Ying tong ..."? Written about 50 years ago but highly appropriate (even if for 4-20% of US males it could have been the "Yang tong ..." song).

[Cat]

I remember that song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebe1zuEtbc

[Frenchie]

Now can one of you explain the source of the phrase " to go commando " ?

[:P]

[Pierre ZFP]

Here is more than you could possibly want to know........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Commando

 

[Frenchie]

Now I know ... [geek]  Thanks !

[mint]

[quote user="Cat"]

Frenchie, In English (or more usually, Australian English) a thong might also be called a flip-flop (FR = tong).

It can also mean un ligature, or une laniére, un lacet or un string/ficelle (knickers to you S17, in the nicest possible way, of course).

Getting the meaning confused could well end in red faces all round [:-))]

[/quote]

Cat, perhaps that's what I wanted clarifying.  Is it the thing you use to tie someone to the bedposts with?  And do you then remove the one they are wearing (on their feet or wherever) at the same time?

Oh, I have often had cause to curse the day when my mother sent me to that Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus School for my education!  Gr....................

[Cat]

Oh I don't know S17, you seem to know more about it than I do [;-)]

[mint]

But, Cat, all my knowledge, such as it is, has been derived secondhand from books and so forth whereas I suspect that you have more of a, shall we say, "first-hand" knowledge?[:P]

[Frenchie]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Cat, perhaps that's what I wanted clarifying.  Is it the thing you use to tie someone to the bedposts with?  [/quote]

Geez, what for ?? ( Those anglais are sometimes so weird !! )  [:)][:)][:D]

[mint]

[quote user="Frenchie"][quote user="sweet 17"]

Cat, perhaps that's what I wanted clarifying.  Is it the thing you use to tie someone to the bedposts with?  [/quote]

Geez, what for ?? ( Those anglais are sometimes so weird !! )  [:)][:)][:D]

[/quote]

MDR or just died laughing, Frenchie![:D]

[Cat]

[quote user="sweet 17"]But, Cat, all my knowledge, such as it is, has been derived secondhand from books and so forth whereas I suspect that you have more of a, shall we say, "first-hand" knowledge?[:P][/quote]

Cheeky monkey!

I'll have you know, young lady, that I've never tied up anyone wearing flip-flops in my life! [:P]

 

[Kitty]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Will teach me not to get above myself and assume that I'll get by and remember that, after all, I've only lived here 18 months or so and that my French is only elementary.[/quote]

Don't be too hard on yourself, S17.  New vocabulary is needed in new situations.  I find this problem all the time.  In the last month, I have had to assimulate new vocabulary 'on the hoof' when going to a physiotherapist for the first time, gathering together equipment for my children's first scout camp equipment and going to a talk about my son's school skiing trip.

 

 

[chessfou]

[quote]I'll have you know, young lady, that I've never tied up anyone wearing flip-flops in my life![/quote]

Any trained historian, seeing that sentence, will immediately wonder what the people that you have tied up were wearing ...

[Cat]

I know. 

Ambiguous, isn't it [;-)]

[mint]

Tying up is one thing but, what about, "Not enough room to swing a cat!" Cat?

This is beginning to sound like the Tory conference, what with whips and ligatures, etc?

[odile]

Ici il pleut des cordes!

[odile]

Cathy for skiing you need good 'fart'!

Farter = apply wax to skis for better glide!

[mint]

[quote user="odile"]Ici il pleut des cordes!
[/quote]

Mais, aujourd'hui ici il fait beau toute la journée![:D]

But I still don't like to refer to the strings section of an orchestra as "les cordes"............or don't they use an expression such as "the strings were particularly good"?