Journal Entries
FWT: "un beauf"
Posted Jun 8, 2005
Literal meaning: brother-in-law (beau-frère) shortened in popular language to "beauf".
Current meaning; uncultured bigot, vulgar, sexist, unreconstructed MCP, vaguely wordlessly xenophobic. Not smart but not vindictive. A bit like Hyacinth Bucket's brother-in-law in fact.
This afternoon, F. came into the staff room to ask if anyone had a translation for "beauf" and we only had this long definition. So we came to the conclusion that the species was unkwown in Britain.
Also it seems to be a male thing. A small triumph in itself...
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Latest reply: Jun 8, 2005
Paris, June 6, 2005
Posted Jun 6, 2005
Saturday was devoted to feverish cleaning up of the garden and mowing grass (lawn is too refined a word for the species we have here). The problem with mowing is where do you stop? There is always a little corner that might be prettified. And then emptying the mown grass at the foot of young horn beam hedge. After a while, and many trips, you walk bent like an old retainer. O/H was doing the wilder areas, comfortably sitting on the big one.
Then the lady gardener came (Gisèle) and she approved, she liked the garden, we were very relieved. She likes to visit gardens but doesn't like to have to pay. We learnt that she is hors concours (?) in the garden competition in the village otherwise she would always get first prize. And she is also out of the competition at the département level. She is that good. She brought roses and a lettuce and she got a pot of young basil. We will take her to the garden festival in Chaumont. It is a provilege to meet people like this.
Then back to Paris with O/H this time to drink champagne with my sister who is now the proud owner of a squalid bedsit next to her own little flat and is excitedly planning an extension... She was so happy to be able to buy it (la peau des fesses) and as the seller had inherited it from his mother, it was not overpriced since it would have gone to the taxman anyway. No real estate agencies, no intermediary. Perfect transaction (apart from the price). Her O/H is a genius at decorating and he's already at work.
But do papers grade themselves? They do not. Midnight oil again. Thundery showers today.
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Latest reply: Jun 6, 2005
FWT: "Il est vraiment chiant"
Posted Jun 4, 2005
Meaning: he is really annoying.
No literal translation; "chier" comes from the Latin cacare = to sh*t.
Various uses, not in polite company, as it is vulgar, but frequent in all classes of society. I would never have used it in front of my parents. Actually I had never used such words until I met my husband. As usually happens, he learnt slang first and gradually my defences fell and it became part of my usual vocabulary
Examples:
"Il me fait chier ce mec"= this guy is getting on my wick
"Tu ne peux pas savoir comme ça me fait chier d'aller à ce dîner"
= You can't imagine how I loathe the idea of accepting this dinner invitation
"Shula est toujours aussi chiante?" = Is Shula as irritating as usual?
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Latest reply: Jun 4, 2005
R, June 4, 2005
Posted Jun 4, 2005
A typical beginning to the week end. Friday night means frantic preparations, check-list of documents needed, papers to mark (last batch till September alleluia), urgent messages to be sent to colleagues for preparation of oral exams, masses of papers and magazines to find suitable material, pens, address book, e-mail of students' e-mails. In short anyone would think that the whole weekend will be spent working at my desk or at the computer. Priorities sorted.
And then when I get here, the first set of priorities immmediately disappears and another, much more demanding, descends : mowing, bindweed, roses, weeds, nettles, unsighlinesses all around. So it's good bye to the briefcase (still untouched) and into nondescript trousers old tee-shirt and cap.
The result is terrible backache. But we have to make a good impression tomorrow as a keen lady gardenrer is coming for l'apéritif. We met her by chance last Sunday, when I went with B. to drop leaflets about the forthcoming choir concert into the letter boxes of various notabilities(?). He vaguely remembered from last time stumbling on a rose garden. And we found it. She happened to be outside when we stopped (her house is in a small hamlet off the village) and she invited us in (I think she was flattered by my shrieks of delight):it was magical. A magnificent English garden with roses roses everywhere, up in the trees, down on the ground, and a pond and water lilies and a rose walk and a pergola, opening on to an orchard. Worthy of a magazine cover and she does it all herself.
I don't know her name but we have met her sister (whose name we don't know either)in the village. Anyway she is coming tomorrow and though spick and span is out of the question, I would like some sort of order...
Meanwhile, on the urban front, news from my special beat (public transport), I have to relate that Friday morning I asked someone to put out his cigarette (platform) and he complied immediately. Quite a spring in my step after that. Then I got on the train and sat down opposite one of those women who think it is quite acceptable to do their nails in the tube. So she pared and she filed and I was thinking 'Really, what next?'. Well next, I spilled the contents of my bag and she dashed down to the floor and gathered it all most kindly. So I swallowed my value judgment until next time...
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Latest reply: Jun 4, 2005
FWT: "coûter la peau des fesses""
Posted Jun 1, 2005
Literal meaning: to cost the skin of your bottom. Meaning: be very expensive.
Example :
"J'ai trouvé un ensemble Sonia Rykiel adorable. mais il coûte la peau des fesses, évidemment."
= I found a ravishing Sonia Rykiel outfit but it costs an arm and a leg, of course.
Sonia Rykiel being a name to conjure with this household.
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Latest reply: Jun 1, 2005
martine_s
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