ssomon Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Headline HERE shows that the total lack of understanding the meaning of a foreign word doesn't inhibit its use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betise Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Oh, I don't know, when we talk about doping cyclists, or sportsmen generally, don't we mean improving their chances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 "Doper" in French means to "administer a stimulant", 'give a boost' etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Di.ma.brd. Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 Where on earth did the French get these words from? cacahuète = Peanut huile d'arachide = Peanut oil A total mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssomon Posted May 20, 2022 Author Share Posted May 20, 2022 Does this help solve the mystery? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachide ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Have you ever tried dry frying, Minteroonie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 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; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 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.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssomon Posted August 26, 2022 Author Share Posted August 26, 2022 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssomon Posted August 26, 2022 Author Share Posted August 26, 2022 I'm all for UN FOB! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 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? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 Well then is cliché what we'd call a negative, you know, before digital photography and we used rolls of film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted August 28, 2022 Share Posted August 28, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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