Day 1481 (Monday) 28th June 2021

It was lovely and sunny again today and the guests in the big apartment left early this morning so Huw was going up there to start getting it ready for the new guests arriving on Saturday so he dropped me off at the villa in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. Eduard was on fine form and asked to revise dependent prepositions yet again. We talked about their gorgeous garden and he said that when he got the gardens done it had cost almost as much as the house. I enjoyed a five-minute break sitting on the terrace admiring the garden and I counted the number of chairs on the terrace; there is room to comfortably seat 21 people and it still wouldn’t be overcrowded. There was a bunch of pink balloons over the dining area and Sonia, their daughter told me that they’d had a party over the weekend to celebrate that the newest grandchild was five months old. Olga later told me that it was a good excuse to have a birthday cake.

Their chef Pascal made them a pavlova and she said it was wonderful.

Olga and I had to work downstairs again today because Eduard was doing business on the dining table. When we finished and walked back up the stairs to on the floor below the ground floor and there were three closed doors and I asked if they were more bedrooms. They weren’t. She gave me another tour and it was amazing; one of the rooms was a playroom and music room. It was bigger than our living room and beautifully decorated for kids. There was also a white piano and a couple of guitars. Another room was a gym, sauna and had a massage table and the last room for today was a food and drink storeroom. It was quite cold in there to keep everything cool and fresh and there was so much food, fresh fruit, vegetables, bottles and bottles of olive oil, wine spirits and so on and so on. 

I walked home along the beach again, wondering why our bougainvillea doesn’t look like this

 

Huw was still up in the apartment when I got home and after a quick lunch I thoroughly enjoyed a few hours in the sun reading my book. I’ve only just started this book and was amazed that the couple in it have a dog called Badger, there is no explanation as to why he’s named this but what a coincidence.

  

I found an amusing article online called 19 Funny French Words

by Géraldine Camus May 27, 2020. I thought 19 was a bit much so I’m posting half today and the rest tomorrow

 La pomme de terre

This may be the most common and strange compound word of the French language. Literally, it translates as “apple from Earth” or “apple of the Earth”, it actually means a mere potato. Weird, when we know that a potato is not a fruit but a root… And to confuse things even more, you’ll often hear French speakers call a “pomme de terre” a “patate” in colloquial French. 

Le noeud papillon

“Le noeud pap”, as the French would say, is a very fancy piece of clothing usually worn only on special occasions like weddings or balls. It seems that a knot butterfly, as the literal translation suggests, is for French people’s mind a very accurate description of a bow tie… Why not?

La chauve-souris

What is the difference between a mouse and a bat in French? Apparently one of them is bald! Formed with the words “chauve” (bald) and “souris” (mouse), the French word for bat doesn’t seem to make much sense. Originally, it may have come from “chouette-souris” (owl-mouse) because they are nocturnal animals but was transformed into “chauve-souris”, which is a lot funnier.

Le chèvrefeuille

Ok, this one isn’t as popular as the others but its name is definitely as interesting. Even if we know the words “chèvre” (goat) and “feuille” (leaf), this still doesn’t help guess that “chèvrefeuille” is nothing but “honeysuckle” in English. To confuse things even more, according to the legend, the sprouts of this aromatic plant were eaten by roe deers, called “chevreuil” in French. Anyway, it’s still has nothing to do with goats… 

Le cerf-volant

You would probably call me crazy if I was telling you that we can see a lot of “flying deers” on the beaches in France, particularly in the city of Berck, in the north of France. Would it make more sense if I told you that this is what we call kites in French? Originally, the word “cerf” (deer) was badly translated from the word “sèrp” (meaning “snakes”). Therefore, we shouldn’t call them “flying deers” but “flying snakes” (serpent-volant). But that would be weird, right?

L’oeil de boeuf

An ox’s eye can be three things in French: the literal eye of an ox, a peephole or a very cute and practical window in a building. In the shape of an oval, the bull’s eye (as they are also called in English), is a small window located in the upper part of a building, or in the attic, to let the light in and ventilate a place. Now, if someone’s talking about “un oeil de boeuf”, they are most likely talking architecture rather than anatomy. 

Ras-le-bol

A bowl full of it is quite a good image to express what this word figuratively means in French. If it happens to you it means you’ve had enough of what was pouring into the bowl. Listen carefully to French speakers and you’ll surely hear a lot of them say “j’en ai ras-le-bol !” when talking about their work, their children or life. That sounds depressing? Well… After all if you’ve had your bowl full it’s because you’ve had too much of something, you’re fed up and a bit depressed by your surroundings and your situation.

…and 12 funny French words that may not exist in your language

If you ever studied French, you surely have realised by now that the French language is full of funny words, to use but also to pronounce, and that unlike in English or in German, it is nearly impossible to make up a word because there’s probably one that already exists! 

How many times have you come across a French word that was untranslatable in your own language? Hopefully, not many. Yet, it might happen more than you’d expect. Yes, the French language may be beautiful to hear, romantic and sexy but did you know it could also be funny and help you express feelings you didn’t know you had? Here’s a non-exhaustive list of French funny words that (maybe) don’t even exist in your language!

Dépaysant

This is surely what happens to anyone going to a foreign land for the first time: it’s unfamiliar. This adjective comes from the word “pays” (country) and the prefix “dé” which shows a negation. Imagine going in a different country where you have no landmarks or points of reference, whether it’s the climate, the landscape, the language or your habits. If you feel lost and disoriented by your surroundings, but in a positive way, or if you are just in a place where your daily life is a long gone memory, this is probably the right time to use this sentence: “c’est dépaysant !”

La tartine

When it comes to food, there are obviously many French dishes that come to mind. But have you ever heard of the “tartine”? It’s not really a dish per se but it’s quite popular as breakfast, lunch, goûter and apéritif among French people. Take a piece of fresh bread, nicely sliced, add butter or chocolate spread or ham or cheese or even hummus or guacamole on it and bam!, you’ve got yourself a “tartine”! Tartine de pain beurrée (buttered tartine) dipped in hot cocoa is a most favourite at breakfast.

And to finish today, some more hilarious translations