The Riff-Raff Element Posted January 13, 2006 Author Share Posted January 13, 2006 [quote user="Christine Animal"]Mistral, that's funny yesterday I wasgoing to say I had always loved the verb defenestrer for going out of awindow. But before posting I checked in the dictionary and thetranslation was defenestrate. What do you mean by you can evenuse it reflexively? [/quote]Je me defenestre - I throw myself out of the window. As opposed to Ilme defenestre, I suppose. I am delighted with a verb that means toremove sand, though. That is my favourite to date. All I have to do nowis try and find some casual way of slipping it into conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 There are some strange anglicised verbs eg in the current Rustica " Relookez vos pots". Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I have never quite managed to work out a snappy English equivalent of "désenclavement". The Vendee's Conseil General is always trumpeting about how this and that new bit of motorway/dual carriageway/TGV line will "désenclave" the département - i.e. drag it out of the dark ages, transportwise.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 That's a good one Angela. It says in my dictionary "opening to outside influences"... "to open to the outside world".Hope they will soon finish the roads so that you will be able to join us all ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I like this, and as enclave is in common use, it is a good way of saying that one is now opening ones horizons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 thinking of désenclavement, one of the fashionable words in teaching is décloisoner (it took me a while to work out they weren't talking about walls) It means teaching techniques accross the range of subjects as opposed to everybody teaching his little bit in his own corner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opalienne Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 So the opposite of what UK management-speak would call 'silos'....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 [quote user="Loiseau"]I have never quite managed to work out asnappy English equivalent of "désenclavement". The Vendee's ConseilGeneral is always trumpeting about how this and that new bit ofmotorway/dual carriageway/TGV line will "désenclave" the département -i.e. drag it out of the dark ages, transportwise.Angela[/quote]I'd never really thought about our being an evclave before, but now you come to mention it the CG do rather go on about it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 The use of "se faire ..." gets me. I can just about cope with "se faire coiffer", and "se faire accompagner" for to get one's hair done and to get a lift, but "se faire agresser" for to be mugged always conjures up the idea of "to have oneself mugged". Bizarre.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 [quote user="Loiseau"]The use of "se faire ..." gets me. I can just about cope with "se faire coiffer", and "se faire accompagner" for to get one's hair done and to get a lift, but "se faire agresser" for to be mugged always conjures up the idea of "to have oneself mugged". Bizarre.Angela[/quote]I agree. The first time I came across it was "elle s'est fait violer" It was a bit of a shock. Just an example of how the French try to get round using the passive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opalienne Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 What about 'se suicider'? Tautology or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Good one, OP! [:D]At least it's not "se faire suicider" (well, not unless it's really murder!)A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Yes, like when someone is killed accidentally in a car accident, they say "il s'est tué en voiture", as if it was deliberate.Another one is "mortellement blessé". Aren't you either blessé or tué, but mortellement blessé, I always find that one strange. [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opalienne Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 But you would say 'mortally wounded' in English, wouldn't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 ... maybe (I can't remember!), it just seems funny to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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