Paris is speeding past us !

Proof that Paris has changed over the last few years is this new Paris phenomenon, rollerblading across Paris by night with people of all ages, nationalities, and kinds:   http://www.pari-roller.com.

If you ever saw a woman wearing running shoes in Paris 20 years ago, you could be sure she wasn’t French. Probably American. French women wore nothing but high heels and elegant outfits. No one would have dreamed, at that time, that Parisians could ever wear “les baskets” or “les tennis.”

Today, we even see Parisians riding bicycles in Paris! In their rush to get athletic and green, they have now even beaten America, by renting public bikes at easy-to-use bike stands spread out over the city.

And for the past 15 years, they’ve usurped us completely by celebrating rollerblading across the city! Every Friday night, they have something Americans can only dream about now. If you’re adventurous and athletic – and in Paris! – you too can participate in it. Check out the website and don’t miss the photos of Paris by night!

Paris’ future

To read about Sarkozy’s ambitions for Paris, you can check out this article in L’Express.

A Word A Day or Spellcheck – Which Is Right?

A.Word.A.Day did it again, gave us a week of French words used in English. The words were pas de deux, bien-pensant, beau monde, tranche, and passe-partout. Those are the English spellings. You can see their derivation and use at http://wordsmith.org//awad/ .  However, my Spellcheck doesn’t recognize some of them. Any comments on that? I’d love to ‘hear’!

French + English Word Exchanges

The theme of this weeks’ A.Word.A.Day is the exchange of English and French words that go from one country to the other, sometimes with modified meanings. He has a great quotation from ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Let’s see if Anu Garg mentions ‘fleur’> ‘fleurter’ >’flirt’>’flirter.’ Check out wsmith@wordsmith.org

Good French Movie

If you want to see a good French film that’s now in the States, I recommend “The Class” (’Entre les Murs’). It’ll give you a privileged view into the current French educational, sociological and, mostly, human scene. See the NPR review

Paris Bicycles Meet Roadblock

The brilliant Paris innovation that all of us admired and emulated has fizzled. The city’s bike rental practice that made travel greener, easier, cheaper and more fun has suffered from human disregard and greed. Does that mean that the other countries wanting to do it won’t?

Check out:   this BBC report.

A.Word.A.Day gives us French this week

A.Word.A.Day’s theme this week is French words used in English. Monday’s word was “bon ton” and today’s, “moue.” For definitions, examples, and pronunciation of the word in English, see A Word A Day.

The site’s founder, Anu Garg, quotes Mark Twain as having said, “In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.”

Since Garg is giving the English pronunciation and meanings, we’re posting here the French pronunciation and the French meanings:

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Monday March 2

bon ton – proper

/bɔ̃ tɔ̃/

———————-

Tuesday March 3

la moue (n) grimace, pout; faire la moue (v) to pout

/mu/

———————-

Wednesday March 4

au fait – as a matter of fact

/o fɛt/

———————–

Thursday March 5

clou – nail

/klu/

———————–

Friday March 6

pied-a-terre – a place of lodging for secondary or temporary use

/pjetatɛr/

Websites viewed the most in France

Here’s a list of the top 100 websites the French people consult. Sort of like our equivalents, n’est-ce pas? Are there any you’d be interested in? Maybe the final one?

http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=lang&lang=fr

Roquefort vs. Coke?

If you want to hear about a whole ‘nother war, check this out. Our retiring president left the new one another legacy, and France is miffed at us again. This time it’s because we’re resisting their Roquefort cheese. Bush put a triple tariff on it, apparently because France banned our beef:

The cheese war

gouverneuses, gouverneures – Blog LeMonde.fr

Our new Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, is making the French rethink their word gouverneuse for a female governor. The French word connotes either governess or the wife of the (male) governor, neither of which apply to Palin. The Québecois, ahead of the French in this realm, have added an e to the masculine gouverneur to make gouverneure. Is this a linguistic or a political issue? For the opinion of the author of the Le Monde article, catch the last sentence. (For less advanced readers of French, note the entire negative of the last sentence of the post: ne … pas que.)

Click on URL below for details:

gouverneuses, gouverneures – Blog LeMonde.fr