h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Didn't you ask that earlier?

????...

this is becoming a rather surrealist thread...

who asked what to whom already?!...

why is a chasseur coming this way?!...

who has deja vu their deja vu?!...

why am i a wolf when i could be a fish or a mask?!..

why am i asking questions?!...

why am i giving answers?!...

why ?!..

why ?!...

why ?!...

why is my smiley not really a smiley?!...

why why?!...

why not?!...

why what?!..

who's who?!..

who's what?!...

etc. etc.?!...

============================

hi akira 100...

was it aboout "je ne sais quoi"?!... i don't know...



loup

oh good news...

the writers of a certain TV soap are becoming very interested by the way this thread is going...

very riveting they say...

so many questions that need answering...

so many questions that have been answered already but still need some answers...

and the next episode being around that very burning question:

what is a "je ne sais quoi"?!...

or is it a "deja vu"?!...

or....?!

"oooops time to wake up... what a weird dream i just had..."

now that i'm myself again...

there is one french expression that you might actually know better than me...

it's "sacrebleu"... i find it time to time when readings books where there are supposed to be some french characters in the story [i said french NOT strange...]...

we don't really use it anymore... it's an ancient expression [according to me anyway]...

anyone having an idea of what it means?!...

loup

sacre bleu means Sacred Blue - it refers to the blue coloured clothes that Mary, mother of Jesus is supposed to wear. Not to be confused with cordon bleu - an award for top chefs. Also not to be confused with Gordon Bennett, an exclaimation of disbelief. Not to be confused with Annette Benning, a Hollywood star who was born in the same year as Kevin Bacon.

As we're talking about french phrases. Does anyone know what 'deja vu' actually means?

Liam.

I've just caught up with this thread and I'm finding it fascinating. But what I REALLY want to know is, what does "deja vu" mean?

I'm glad someone had the nerve to ask that!

re:"deja vu"...

re: "sacrebleu"...

i never bothered looking into it before... i will definitely sleep better now...

no seriously... thanks...



loup

Rien ne va plus!!!

I have just lost my last ounce of humour (and I only had 1/2 ounce) - so watch carefully


deja vu
de je a vu
of (which) I have seen

Any further questions mentioning deja vu will immediately be attacked by the deja vu virus which will have the effect of blowing up your screen

TOUT LE MONDE,
COMPRENEZ???


Et maitenenant: qu'est-ce qui se passe? de quoi parlez-vous?

So, mainly_mischief, I'm intrigued. What is this deja vu of which you speak?

literally 'already seen'

I have had interesting discussions with French people explaining that in English you can just say 'Oh! Déjà vu!' and everyone knows exactly what you mean.

Indeed, it isn't 'said' in the same way over here in France.

You don't say 'déjà vu' just coz you have one (unless i'm mistaken)

I said it one time and the reaction was just 'Quoi? Qu'est-ce que t'as déjà vu?'

What do native French-speakers say, Loup?

or don't you Frogs get deja vu?

A+
speef

S'fascinating stuff this. I've really learnt so much on this thread today. But can anybody shed any light on the meaning of "deja vu"?

apparently it means already seen, but to be honest it's the meaning of deja vu I'm interested in. Any answers?

er...

déja vu = literally 'already seen'

Isn't there a foreign phrase that describes that spooky feeling of having experienced an event or situation before? What's that called again?

deja...something. Oh, it'll come back to me. i'm getting a bit of a feeling of already seen here...

hi spiff [and everyone else as well] yep, us frogs do have "deja vu" experiences...

but do we use this expression?!... mmmm... interesting enough, like for "sacrebleu", and tho' my memory does fail me at time...
it seems that i heard it more since i have been in the UK than when i was still in france...

don't take my word for it but we seem to call a "deja vu" experience just precognition or something around that...

the "deja vu" experiences i know/heard of involve dreaming of the place/events before we see/experience them for the first time... [unless you're a time traveller of course...] so yep, premonition, precognition...



loup

i've been eu!

still, i reckon mine was the best answer!

"cherchez la femme"?!

don't hear it so much tho'...



loup

Well, here I am - only I'm probably not the one you were cherching.

The French obviously have no idea if they use "premonition" because déja vu is something you experience after or during the event - you have the uncanny feeling you've already experienced it before.

But you don't see it coming - it hits you when it's happening, so the word can't be anything with "pre" in it. Neither premonition nor precognition fit.

Try harder Loup - now you've really got me interested. What do the French say for déja vu?

And while I'm on the subject, the Germans don't use "angst" like the English do either. In German it just means "fear" and is an everyday word without the psychotherapist overtones.

I could my entry here, just in case anyone's interested. Of course, if you've seen it before...........

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