Annie - Guillaume Apollinaire

Annie Playden was apparently much too matter-of-fact for young, passionate, twenty-years old Apollinaire.
However, when she left him to move back to England, he grieved enough to write one of his masterpieces, La chanson du mal-aimé. 

This short poem, Annie, is about the impossible encounter with the love one. Apollinaire sets his Annie within a closed garden, in an imaginary Texas (roses, why not, but lime trees ?!). Distance is expressed by means of a religion mostly unknown in Europe. 
And loves finds its way through a very fragile link: that both of them wear no buttons on their outfits.

I feel tenderness and regret. Irony, also, and almost a sense of relief.
   

Language ! (3) Basic insults and swear words

Trou-du-cul
/tʁu dy ky/

Trrroo dü kü. Ass-hole.

The plural is a tricky orthographic challenge. I would say trous-du-cul (because there cannot be more than one hole per ass)
There is no way I could ever put it better than this : 

xxx

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

It feels good to hear Barack Obama say those words. It feels good to hear John Kerry speak perfect, elegant French. It feels good to see the candle-lit windows, and #porteouverte.
For the rest of it, it feels bad. And a terrible déjà-vu.

Liberté

lee-bear-tay Freedom.

Égalité

ay-gal-ee-tay Equality

Fraternité

frrah-ter-nee-tay Fraternity

Something fragile we are all responsible for.

Edible and drinkable words (1)

Pourboire

/puʁbwaʁ/
poor-boo-ah-rr

Litterally 'to drink', the pourboire is the tip you give a waiter in a restaurant. It's a bonus. Usually you would let the waiter/cab driver keep the change (garder la monnaie) if you are pleased with them. Waiters are paid and won't scorn you for not giving them any, but it will be appreciated.

Note that some French waiters are going to scorn you no matter what (I don't mean you as a foreigner, but you as a human being). Don't take it personally. It's a local sport (very parisien but not only).
And the way they are supposed to spend it is pretty much in the name... I find it on the web, that the German Trinkgeld, and the protuguese Gorjeta share the same origin. So we are not the only alcoholic in Europe !
Interestingly enough, the Russians apparently say na chaï, tea money. Yeah right...

Faux amis of the day : from money to love.

Pourboire is a gratuity
Gratuit means free of charge, a courtesy.
Courtoisie means old-fashion politeness.  
L'Amour courtois, courtly love, was a form of medieval litterature, where love was part erotic desire, part highly elevated spiritual bond. Usually illicit and ending tragically.

Useless word of the day (4)

Galipette

/ɡalipɛt/
gal-ee-pay-tuh
A little somersault on the ground, using hands to roll on the back.
It's a word of vernacular origin, some say it comes from a old verb, galer, wich used to mean 'to have fun'. The suffix -ette at the end is cute and means 'little'.
Physical Education teachers and athletes despise galipette and call it a roulade (a roll), because it sounds more serious. But a galipette is a galipette, no matter what. It's fun, and nice, and not athletic at all. It comes naturally to every kid around 2 or 3.
Galipette avant / galipette arrière
A bit of a naughty twist, of course, when used in the plural : faire des galipettes. It all depends on the context...

Interestingly, when you jump up and turn in the air without touching the ground, a somersault is called a saut périlleux, literally a 'hazardous jump'.

No hazard for me... I'll stick to the galipette, thank you very much.

Hard times (2)

Galérer

/galeʀe/
gah-lay-rray
The verb from galley, literally. You need to imagine those slaves painfully maneuvering huge paddles in the heat, to the sound of beating drums. Yes, galérer means to have a hard time, in a painful miserable way.

Molière, in The Impostures of Scapin : "Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère ?" 
"What the Hell was he doing in this galère ?"

It is not exactly to struggle, because I feel there is a sense of pride and courage in the struggle. When you feel like a galérien (male), or a galérienne (female) (gah-lay-rr-ee-a/gah-lay-ree-un), you are not in a fighting mood anymore. I can assure you, you don't feel proud, nor courageous. You feel a drudge, a slave, and you feel miserable.

Almost everyday in big cities, you would galère in traffic or in the subway. This galère doesn't really call for an explanation as it usually derives from multiple issues (strike, delay, crowds, flooding, accident, riot, unattended luggage - or suspicious activity)

Essential Parisian idiom :

I'm sorry I'm late. J'ai galéré in the subway to come.

Hard times (1)

Ramer

/ʁame/
Rrrah-may
To paddle. More or less the same meaning as galérer. The hard time you get when you rame is totally helpless. No matter what you do, it doesn't seem to work so well.

Pédaler dans la choucroute

/pedale dɑ̃ la ʃukʁut/
Pay-dah-lay dan lah shoo-kroo-t
Pedal in the sauerkraut. I have no idea where this one comes from. It's pretty much the same as ramer. You try and try but don't succeed. And you are stuck in the mud.

 
My teammate caught me making fun of her hair. J'ai ramé, big time, trying to convince her I was talking about someone else. It was like pédaler dans la choucroute. She didn't believe me at all. And now she's pretty mad at me.  C'est la loose.

Bonus : la loose.

/la luːz/
Lah lose
The lose. A lose-lose hopeless situation. 
La loose / la grosse loose / grave la loose.

Faux ami

Faux-ami

/fozami/

Foze ah-me

‘False friend’. Is said of a deceiving word that looks familiar doesn’t mean what you would think it does.

For example, ‘piece’ is a morceau when pièce is ‘coin’, and coin is ‘corner’… 
In French 'forgiveness' is pardon. But a 'pardon' in English means grâce in French, and when the Americans say 'Grace' the French (seldom) say Bénédicité...

Or an entrée is an ‘appetizer’ and a plat is an ‘entrée’. But an entrée is also a ‘doorway’.

I actually like faux-amis so much that I might end up with a specific entry for them (which has nothing to do with an entrée… oh I’m confused).

Wanna play ?