Patf Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 While in hospital recently the nursing staff were forever asking if we had made "sel" yet. You know the obsession with bowel movements in hospital. I've looked the word up and can't find it. One nurse asked me what was the english word for it. So I gave a pretty broad range from very rude to very polite, thinking what a lot of words for the same thing. So what is this french word? Is it polite or slang? Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 selles = bowel movement - more of a medical term Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Stool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Cracket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 That's exactly it Dick. Aller à la selle.What's a cracket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Isn't it odd how English and French keep a parallel life: the English word for a piece of faeces and a thing to sit on are the same, and so are the French. I can't see how selle(s) and stool are connected, linguistically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Maybe it's the sitting position which has to be taken. The French had a lovely saddle, while the English only had a little stool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 thinking aloud...les sellesles selsl'aisselle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Aiselle? Armpit? What? [:D]A cracket is a stool in the far NE of England. As in "Sityersell doon on the cracket, hinny."We were rummaging in the chapellerie the other day and found a ceramic bedpan jammed in the rafters. The baker's wife, who was with me, says it is called a 'peau' (or so it sounded) though what it has to do with skin I dread to think. We used to call a commode (as in an English invalid chair-cum-toilet, not a French chest of drawers) a 'po' - same root word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judie Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Think it was probably" pot " pronounced po. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Yes, certailny pot, put le bébé sur le pot. Thank you Cassis for the definition of cracket. Now we have crackpot.But what is a chapellerie, I thought it was somewhere where hats were made, and what were you doing there with the baker's wife?!Getting back to the stools and being concerned about their condition, something in the olden days which people were very concerned about as it was a good way to detect their state of health, on a programme which was on late at night with Christine Bravo (anyone remember it?) with different members fom European countries, it was said that still today (any Germans to confirm this?) that German toilets have a sort of platform in so that "droppings" stay on it before being flushed away and can be examined.So it was said that this explains the origin of the greetings "Comment allez vous?" and "How do you do?" referring to your crackets. Is that clear?This is dead serious and as Missy said, it's Friday 13th 1066. [geek] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 [quote user="Cassis"]Aiselle? Armpit? What? [:D][/quote]It's just that they are homonyms... nothing else! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufan Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 selles is not really medical, but you'll only hear it in hospital or doctor... It's not slang, it's rather polite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 [quote user="Christine Animal"]Yes, certailny pot, put le bébé sur le pot. Thank you Cassis for the definition of cracket. Now we have crackpot.But what is a chapellerie, I thought it was somewhere where hats were made, and what were you doing there with the baker's wife?![/quote]Of course - pot. So do you think 'po' in English came from that?Chapellerie - I also thought it meant a hat factory until people started telling us we had one as part of our property. People round here also seem to use it to mean a little "chapelle". Maybe they used to make bishops' mitres there? [:D]The baker's wife was around for her English conversation classes with Jude and we were showing her around the place. We also found traces of an old bread oven in the chapel. Obviously it has had a rather mixed history. Nowadays it is our cave and garage as well as housing the fioul tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted October 15, 2006 Author Share Posted October 15, 2006 So now I know. Let's hope I never have to be asked that question again. I remembered later, this same nurse said she knew one english word for it which was "pooh." I hadn't thought of that one - a typical british euphemism ( is that the right word?) The french seem to use language in a more direct way. Except I heard one person who had dropped something say "mer.....credi!" Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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