ON A RABBIT JAG

Because we're on a rabbit jag , we've selected this glass figurine to illustrate a fairly common, but unfortunate, French expression:  poser un lapin.  In every day parlance it means to stand somebody up, that is to say to not respect an appointment and to do so without informing the person with whom one has the rendez-vous.

Vocabulary

poser:  to put, to put something down, to land; to apply; to ask

un lapin:  a rabbit

décommander:  to cancel

Curious to know what we've been up to? Click here.

©2017 P.B. Lecron

ONCE UPON A TIME

Il était une fois . . .

On a long transatlantic flight home when both her toddler and three-month old were finally sleeping, my daughter let her imagination soar and wrote an enchanting bedtime children's story, Le lapin et la lune. I loved it and wanted to try my hand at illustrating it as a gift for my grandsons. Marianne agreed, and our mother-daughter project evolved into a book which is now available on Amazon sites. If you want to take a peek inside you can do so by clicking here. 

Vocabulary

un bambin, une bambine:  a toddler, a little child
un nourrisson:  an infant


©2017 P.B. Lecron

DON'T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH

Pompon is back!

He says it's not his most flattering pose, but being the good sport that he is, our favorite mascot Pompon has agreed to let us use this photo of him to illustrate the French expression "à cheval donné on ne regarde pas les dents." It means that if one is given a gift, one shouldn't criticize it.  Merci, Pompon!

Vocabulary

être bon joueur:  to be a good sport

avoir bon caractère:  to be good-tempered

©2017 P.B. Lecron

WAFFLE REALITY

A favorite of Lille's late and great native son, Charles de Gaulle, the fine and crispy waffle filled with vanilla cream from la maison Meert is the reference for Flemish waffles. Meert is the most famous salon de thé in the north of France. 

Vocabulary
une gauffre: a waffle
équivoque:  ambiguity
tergiverser: to waffle, to flip-flop, to shilly shally
fouré(e):  stuffed or filled


©2017 P.B. Lecron

MEETING OF SMALL MINDS

Esprit de clocher

Here's a handy French term that encompasses the notions of both small-mindedness and local patriotism and accounts for village rivalries, village quarrels, and chauvinism. Esprit de clocher is an old expression used to express the idea that one's world view doesn't go beyond one's own village. In short, parochialism.

Despite its meaning, we're using as illustration for this term a photo of an elegant bell tower which is an architectural curiosity for its locality.  The tower's lead-covered dome, dating to the late 16th century and entirely restored, is of Spanish style, atypical to its French Brittany department, the Côtes-d'Armor. In addition, elements of the façade of this neo-Gothic church, l'Église Notre-Dame et Saint Mathurin in the village Moncontour, are borrowed from the Italian Renaissance style.   Moncontour is classed as one of the most beautiful villages in France.

Vocabulary

un beffroi:  a belfry

un clocher:  a church tower, a bell tower, a steeple

une cloche:  a bell

©2017 P.B. Lecron

HEAD FIRST

La tête la première

Brueghelesque expressions are a presage of what visitors will see in the Jardins d'Étretât on the Normandy coast where a multitude of the resin heads are centerpieces in an incredible contemporary garden of topiary art. The heads are the work of Spanish artist Samuel Salcedo and are reminiscent of the carved stone faces that dot the terrain of another prominent suspended topiary garden, Les Jardins de Marqueyssac in the Dordogne. The Étretât garden is on the upper chalk cliff, la Falaise d'Amont, which affords a magnificent view of the opposite cliff and its the famous Aiguille, or needle structure. The above photograph was taken at the entrance of the garden.

Expression

Réfléchissons ensemble:  let's put our heads together

©2017 P.B. Lecron


An update...when immersion is easy
Think about it; reading children's books to learn a foreign language is a great way to jump-start the acquisition of a second language. If you're learning to speak French, or simply looking for a charming bedtime story as a gift for a child, then we recommend our own engaging and illustrated page-turner,
Le lapin et la lune, écrit par Marianne Lecron, illustré par P. B. Lecron. This, and an English version, The Rabbit and the Moon, are available on Amazon sites worldwide.

MONKEY BUSINESS

Another animal on the Mini-Carousel in Rouen serves today to illustrate a number of French terms used to translate "monkey business,"  which anglophones take to mean silly or dishonest behavior. Some of them are bêtises,  singeries,  manigances, and une affaire louche.

Vocabulary

un singe:  a monkey

une singerie:  a monkey house

les singeries:  monkeying about; antics

manigancer:  to plot

les manigances:  plotting, scheming, shenanigans

une affaire louche:  a shady deal, a shady business

©2017 P.B. Lecron

THIS LITTLE PIGGY

This little piggy went to the market on an old-style mini-carousel at the Place du Vieux Marché in Rouen.

Vocabulary
un porcinet:  a piggy, a piglet
un porcin:  a pig
un porc:  a pig, a swine (literally and figuratively)


©2017 P.B. Lecron

SCHOOL'S OUT

Fin des cours

To mark that today is the last day of classes for French school children we're posting a photo of one more example of the charming trompe l'oeil murals painted by students and professors of the École d'Art Mural de Versailles on utility boxes around Versailles. 

©2017 P.B. Lecron

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE

 A play on words substituting "faim" or hunger  for "fin" which means the end, caught our eyes when passing by a local covered market  in Cannes. The market place seconds as a parking lot on non-market days. La fin des haricots roughly translates to "it's the end of the line" or "all hope is gone."

There are various explanations of the origin of this French idiomatic expression ranging from its 18th-century use in the context of sailors' consumption of the last dried food stuffs onboard ships to its 20th-century use in parlor games where family members played for dried beans rather than money.

©2017 P.B. Lecron