French expressions: “au four et au moulin”
The French love bread. And to make bread, you need flour. To make the flour, you need wheat. To grind the wheat into flour, you need a mill. The French word for mill is “moulin.” You probably have heard this before as in “Le Moulin Rouge” – or a “Moulin à Poivre” (Pepper mill)
But to make bread, you need to mix the flour with water, add salt, yeast and make dough. The dough needs to be kneaded and then finally when it has risen after a few hours … you need to bake it in an oven. Oven is the English word for what in French is named “le four.”
There’s a French expression, still used today that says you can’t be both at the mill and watching the oven at the same time.
Ne pas pouvoir être au four et au moulin (en même temps).
No matter how independant we might want to be … we can’t be everywhere, doing everything … and certainly not simultaneously.
What’s the opposite of independence: “dependence” or … “interdependence” ?
Happy July … Four (th) !
… When France lent America a hand …
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Singin’ in the Rain – Lyrics
The Lyrics
Singin’ in the Rain. Gene Kelly. Masterpeice.
I’m singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin’
I’m happy again
I’m laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun’s in my heart
And I’m ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ve a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin’,
Singin’ in the rain
Dancin’ in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I’m happy again!
I’m singin’ and dancin’ in the rain!
I’m dancin’ and singin’ in the rain…
….
Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does September
Seem sunny as spring?
Why do I get up
Each morning and start?
Happy and head up
With joy in my heart
Why is each new task
A trifle to do?
Because I am living
A life full of you.
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Newletter July 2, 2010
Too much! In French, “C’est trop!”
What more can you express with just this short exclamation?! This is one we hear everyday all around the world because it’s so true every day! I can’t believe it!
How much? Too much!
How far? Too far!
Are you kidding me? C’est trop beau. Beyond expectations. Beyond what I ever imagined.
How beautiful? Too beautiful for words.
“Let’s go to …”
Too expensive … too far … too new … too old … too cold … too fast … too slow … too good …
What’s the difference between the French and Americans?
The conservative French often say “C’est trop …tard…” And daring Americans … “It’s never too ….late.”
And can’t we all say to someone: “Nothing’s too good for you.”
Of course, some days, on either side of the pond … it really is “Too Darn Hot.”
And that’s just what Ella Fitzgerald is singing on today’s Paris Savannah Connection.
Enjoy it!
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Newsletter July 1, 2010
On my way back from visiting Michel in the hospital yesterday, I was headed for the Marais from the Porte d’Orléans and realized that I was driving up … (or down?) Bd. St. Michel.
Now this is a very well-known name, both in its masculine and the feminine forms, made especially famous in a song by the Beatles way back when!
The French name for a man is pronounced something like “ME” + “SHELL.” This is unlike the Anglo-Saxon “Michael” which, as in Michaelangelo, is pronounced “MY” “KELL”
Oddly enough, the Anglo-saxon pronunciation of Michelle … sounds almost the same in the two languages. Maybe the accent is different.
While waiting for the light to change from red to green … at a stoplight at the corner of Bd. St. Germain and Bd. St. Michel, I took a couple of photos through the windshield.
They’re posted on today’s Paris Savannah Connection.
Happy July First. Happy Summer.
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one sign, good intentions
The sign seems simple enough to understand:
On the right, the big (buses) and the small (bicycles) must proceed forward through the intersection.
On the left, everything else turns right. Is this what has happened to French politics?
and …
the reality :
Fortunately, it wasn’t raining. Like that, I could take these 2 pix through the windshield.
Isn’t there a proverb that says … something about roads paved with good intentions ?
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Newsletter : June 30, 2010
My father used to say “A word to the wise is sufficient.”
And the French word “prévenant” came to mind. It’s a caring word which means thinking about others. I don’t know to what extent it applies to the animal world but it certainly does apply to humans.
It is one of those universal concepts which requires heart and mind and action selflessly. Maybe in that order. It’s neither altogether altruistic nor idealist. It can be practical as it can be simply an expression of tenderness or care.
It can be individual and it can be social. In some cases, it has to do with protection from potential harm. In others, it can be understanding and acting as an act of consideration, certainly of respect for others.
It is welcoming. More than good manners, it is … unexpected.
It is thoughtful. It’s imagining ourselves in the place of someone else. Without anyone’s asking for anything. Being thoughtful, it requires time, maybe maturity, maybe soul.
it is hospitality.
A beautiful idea: être prévenant(e).
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Newsletter: 28 June 2010
I’ve recorded today’s newsletter … so if you’d care to listen to it … here it is:
If you’d care to read it …
| If you happen to take advantage of the fact that the Museé des Beaux Arts in Rouen is showing a rare collection of Impressionist paintings, you will undoubtedly also be pleasantly surprised by the staff at the Museum.
They are refreshingly kind, relaxed, welcoming and knowledgeable. An example of how things ought to be. I’d be surprised if we hear of a strike up there. The subject matter of the exhibit itself centers around the place it is held in: the thriving city of Rouen as it was in the 1890s. Monet, Pissaro, Gauguin (as well as other less well-known) show the boats, long or wide … or both… the big sails, the quays, the workers, the sailors … all against a newly industrialized background where morning fog and smoke from the smokestacks color the sky. Impressions. Outdoor painting. St. Catherine’s Hill. Looking down onto Rouen, there where Saint Joan was burned at the stake on the 30th of May, 1431. The bridges. The two main bridges crossing the Seine are shown in morning light, morning fog, under the rain, under the snow. In one, small painting, we we the sun behind the clouds, through the clouds, its light then reflected from the Seine under the bridge of Boieldieu. The Cathedral. Under the different lights of day as Monet observed it. There’s something else to be said for all of this: Both the painters and today’s staff were artists. The staff and the Museum offering us … their hospitality, the artists … their visions, their works. As you walk through Rouen … you might pass the vast City Hall. Bullet and shell pockmarks of all sizes show on the stone walls. Those happened after these paintings were painted, after these painters had ceased to see but before the staff at the Museum of Fine Arts were born. Just a reminder. Thanks for reading The Paris Savannah Connection. Mark PS. Another sort of Reminder: At the end of the month, I’ll have updated the mailing list of the Paris Savannah Connection to only include those who let me know they want to continue receiving it. So … if you haven’t already sent me a message to let me know … well, let me know: mark@paris-savannah.com Thanks. |
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Le Livre de l’Hospitalité
Je me suis aperçu, ensuite, que dans sa vulnérabilité, l’étranger ne pouvait tabler que sur l’hospitalité dont ferait preuve, à son égard, autrui.
Tout comme les mots bénéficient de l’hospitalité de la page blanche et l’oiseau, de celle, inconditionnelle, du ciel.
Et c’est l’objet de ce livre.
Mais qu’est-ce que l’hospitalité?
Edmund Jabès.
Le Livre de l’Hospitalité éditions Gallimard, 1991
I later realized that, in his vulnerability, the foreigner could only rely on the hospitality that others would care to show him.
Like words that profit from the hospitality of the blank page, and the bird, from the unconditional (hospitality) of the sky.
And that is the reason for this book.
But what is hospitality?
(translation Mark Levinson)
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Eats shoots and leaves
A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.’Why?’ asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
‘Well, I’m a panda,’ he says, at the door. ‘Look it up.’
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the dictionary and, sure enough, finds an explanation. ‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.’
By Lynne Truss. Masterpiece. The best there is on punctuation.
Order your copy now right here!
Amazon – Abe – Momox or buy one at your favorite bookseller’s!!
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