Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Français!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have lots of excuses, particularly TIMEPASSESTOOFAST. I love it here. I wish I could think of a stronger word than love, but my vocabulary is pretty limited what with not speaking much English lately. And not reading much English. (AHEM. Where's my March Atlantic, mom?)

So I could write about learning to ski, or the AFS outing to see the Quartier latin, or all the time I'm spending in Paris on the weekends now that the weather is warm and sunny.

But I've already told those stories to people, and they're stale. Instead, here's a post about la langue française, which interests ME, at any rate.

Things I've Noticed, a List in No Particular Order
  • I figured out how to say like in French, in the Valley Girl sense of the word. The word is genre but when it means like you have to make it all mumbly and simltaneously make an N come out your nose and swallow an R. I haven't mastered the pronunciation, which is unfortunate because I like that word. Genre.
  • Kinetic energy = l'énergie cinétique with a C. So are the words kinetic and cinema related? (That blew my mind for an entire Physics class...So maybe I'm a little more littéraire than scientifique.)
  • I learned in French class that ball = le ballon but actually ball = la balle. La balle means bullet too, which is the basis for this really funny ad that comes on before NCIS on Fridays (which I always watch. I don't know if it's good in English, but dubbed in French, it's hilarious.).
  • The way you say To feel lazy (rough translation) is avoir la flemme.
  • I spent almost an entire Bio class wondering what bourgeon, a key word in the lesson, meant. Towards the end I figured out that it means bud, like in burgeoning in English, but until then, it was like morphogenèse des végétaux-themed MadLibs! There is absolutely nothing as wonderful as not being fluent.
  • I have a whole new ski-themed vocabulary that I only know how to say in French! dérapage, chasse-neige, bosse, téléski...gamelle (well, that last one means a wipeout, but it was probably my Most-Used Word that week, so it bore mentioning).

Happy now? Good. Until next month, dear readers,

With love,

Lucie

3 comments:

  1. I'm happy!!!
    -Nike
    p.s. I still swear that July is so far away...I might just have to visit u in France :) just to eat ice cream for a day and talk!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved this! more than a smiling "burgeon"; pretty much a smiling teleski...gamelle( if both words are meant to be combined to have that most -used word meaning! love

    ReplyDelete