Day 2573 (Monday) 24th June 2024

This is Grasse

and this was taken from the Maybourne hotel, where I used to work.

 

What’s happening in France this week

A woman stands with a dog in front of a shop window reading 'Sales' on the first day of the summer sales in Strasbourg in 2016. (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP)

From the first round of voting in the snap parliamentary election to the property tax declaration deadline and the start of the summer sales, here's what is happening in France this week.

Monday

Reopening of the A13 motorway - After being partially closed (between Vaucresson and Paris) for over two months, the A13 motorway will finally reopen in the direction of the capital on Monday evening. On Thursday, all traffic (in both directions) will resume on the A13.

Tuesday

TV election debate - There will be a debate ahead of the snap parliamentary election on Tuesday at 9pm on TF1 and LCI radio. It will be between prime minister Gabriel Attal, the far-right's Jordan Bardella and Manuel Bompard representing the left alliance. 

France v Poland - The French team will go up against Poland in the group stage of the Euros on Tuesday at 6pm at the Signal Iduna Park Stadium in Dortmund, Germany.

Wednesday

The summer sales - For the majority of the country, the summer sales (soldes d’été) will start on Wednesday, June 26th and will run until Tuesday, July 23rd. There are some exceptions like the French overseas territories, and Corsica, where you’ll have to wait until July 10th for the sales to kick off. 

Thursday

Macron to Brussels - The French President will travel to Brussels for the European Council on June 27th and 28th 2024.

Saturday

Paris pride parade - The month of June marks Pride Month for members of the LGBTQI+ community. The Paris Pride parade (marches des fiertés in French) is the largest, attracting thousands of participants and spectators. It will depart from at 1.30pm from Porte de la Villette and move toward Place de la République.

Tour de France - An Olympics-affected 2024 Tour begins in northern Italy on Saturday, with a 206km ride from Florence to Rimini. Because Paris is all Olympics-ed up, the race this year finishes in Nice, rather than along the Champs-Elysées as is traditional.

Sunday

First round of parliamentary elections - The first round of voting in France's parliamentary elections will take place on Sunday. Only French citizens (including dual nationals) are eligible to vote. The second round will take place on July 7th.

Property tax declaration - Property owners are required to do another tax form - the déclaration d'occupation or déclaration de biens immobiliers - and it must be submitted by June 30th (by 11.59pm). However, this is not an annual task, you only have to do it if you did not complete it last year, or if you bought a property or otherwise changed your status in the last year.

5 tips to understand French humour and jokes – the Local France

France's President Emmanuel Macron shares a laugh with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP

When learning French, one of the hardest things to do is to understand jokes  - which are often layered in cultural references or complicated wordplay.

It's common for new arrivals in France - and sometimes those who speak the language well - to struggle to understand French humour. Learning how to crack jokes or at least get other people's jokes, it's a tricky process.

It's even led to accusations that the French don't have a sense of humour - of course that's not true as the wide variety of comedy films and TV shows made here attest to its existence, plus the fact that jokes are a key part of everyday life.

But it is true that French humour can be very different to the style of comedy found in English-speaking countries like the US and UK, leaving you scratching your head when your French neighbour, friend or colleague cracks a joke.

Here are our tips to help you understand French jokes;

Wordplay

Humour is both cultural and linguistic, and foreigners may struggle with word-play (jeux de mots).

There's not a lot of studying that can be done specially for jeux de mots, other than to keep plugging away at French language learning so you will (one day) have a vocabulary wide enough to understand the references.

Here's an example - Comment cuire des carrottes sans feu. Vous mettez neuf dans une casserole puis vous en enlevez une et les carrottes sont qu'huit.

This translates into English as - How to cook carrots without heat. Put nine carrots in a pan then take one out and the carrots are then eight.

Makes zero sense, right?

The joke comes from the fact that les carrotes sont qu'huit (the carrots are eight) sounds the same as les carrottes sont cuites (the carrots are cooked).

Here's another one. The message on the person's mailbox reads C'est pas grave, manges des pâtes - don't worry, eat pasta.

The joke being that the person's name  - G. Paderi - sounds like j'ai pas de riz - I have no rice.

And finally the popular 'monsieur et madame' jokes that French kids enjoy (they're vaguely similar to 'knock knock' jokes in English) also rely on wordplay.

Example - Monsieur et Madame Honnête ont une fille. Comment s'appelle-t-elle? Camille. Camille Honnête.

The imaginary daughter of Mr and Mrs Honnête is transformed into a means of transportation - une camionnette (a van).

Look, we never promised you sophisticated humour . . .

Puns

Similar to wordplay are puns. French magazines and newspapers in particular adore a pun. These are often a play on well-known phrases in French - so again the more French idioms or sayings that you know, the more likely you are to get the joke.

Small business owners also seem quite fond of a pun - I spotted a kebab shop in Normandy called 100 Dwiches (sounds like sandwiches when you say the 'cent' out loud).

News and topical jokes

All humour references culture, but the anthropologist Edward T. Hall considered France to be a 'high context culture', meaning communication tends to be more nuanced, subtle and indirect.

These types of cultures expect a higher degree of context, particularly in humour. Therefore the more you know about France and its culture, the more likely you are to 'get' the joke.

For example, an advertising campaign for the US doughnut chain Krispy Kreme's French launch included the tag line 'macaron démission' - suggesting that the French pastry the macaron should give up since Krispy Kreme dougnuts are in town. But the phrase is also a play on the political slogan Macron démission (Macron - resign) - and you won't really know that without following French news.

You can keep up with French news - and therefore have a better chance of understanding these references - via French newspapers, TV and radio, and of course The Local will always keep you abreast of what's going on.

If you're keen to try and crack political or news-based comedy try watching news-based TV comedy shows like Quotidien, or reading satirical publications like Le Canard Enchainé - or simply follow their social media feeds.

This is Badger helping me with a jigsaw again.