avocat
Friday, December 19, 2008
Our friend, témoin, avocat, son's parrain, and more, in today's story. (The cute guy is Matthieu, my husband's godson).
avocat (avo-kah) noun
1. avocado
2. lawyer, barrister, counsel
The feminine of avocat is "avocate"
Do you have a funny, language-learning (or other) story about an avocado/avocat or lawyer/légume? Wait a minute; an avocado is a fruit... Never mind, share your fruity, law-abiding story with us today--or share any terms and expressions missing from today's edition... in the comments box.
Meantime, here are some related words and expressions:
avocat du diable = devil's advocate
avocasserie (f) = pettifoggery (in French "mauvaise chicane d'avocat")
un avocassier (une avocassière) = un mauvais avocat / a bad lawyer
un avocaillon (m) = pettifogger, small-town lawyer
un avocatier = an avocado pear tree
... and this verb, from my grandfather's 1928 Petit Larousse: avocasser: to obscurely exercise the lawyer profession.
AUDIO FILE: listen to the French word "avocat" and hear the expressions, above:Download Avocat . Download Avocat
Jean-Marc and I rolled into town last night, after 2 a.m., having spent "une soirée gastro"* with an old friend and his old potes.* When I say old, I'm referring to the age of a friendship and, bien sûr,* to the number of years that one friend recently tacked on to his birth date: quarante!* Of course forty isn't old, but we won't tell that to the birthday "boy".
Today, meet our friend Fred Chollet and, in the process, "meet" a slew of French vocabulary.
Fred is... Jean-Marc's cher ami d'enfance*
1. avocado
2. lawyer, barrister, counsel
The feminine of avocat is "avocate"
Do you have a funny, language-learning (or other) story about an avocado/avocat or lawyer/légume? Wait a minute; an avocado is a fruit... Never mind, share your fruity, law-abiding story with us today--or share any terms and expressions missing from today's edition... in the comments box.
Meantime, here are some related words and expressions:
avocat du diable = devil's advocate
avocasserie (f) = pettifoggery (in French "mauvaise chicane d'avocat")
un avocassier (une avocassière) = un mauvais avocat / a bad lawyer
un avocaillon (m) = pettifogger, small-town lawyer
un avocatier = an avocado pear tree
... and this verb, from my grandfather's 1928 Petit Larousse: avocasser: to obscurely exercise the lawyer profession.
AUDIO FILE: listen to the French word "avocat" and hear the expressions, above:Download Avocat . Download Avocat
Jean-Marc and I rolled into town last night, after 2 a.m., having spent "une soirée gastro"* with an old friend and his old potes.* When I say old, I'm referring to the age of a friendship and, bien sûr,* to the number of years that one friend recently tacked on to his birth date: quarante!* Of course forty isn't old, but we won't tell that to the birthday "boy".
Today, meet our friend Fred Chollet and, in the process, "meet" a slew of French vocabulary.
"FRED"
Fred is... Jean-Marc's cher ami d'enfance*
and the parrain* of my son, Max (quelle chance!).*
He is époux* to
Corinne Chollet
a lovely woman who makes a mean chocolate cake.
Fred has traits that most of us have to pay for: curls and long lashes.
Fred is a part-time père Noël* and full time avocat.*
He is témoin* to my marriage with Jean-Marc
(a marriage not done on a lark... but, partly, in a park
after Fred got us a special lawyer
...to deal with those illegal alien "sharks"...)
Fred is a proud père* to Clémence and Matthieu a.k.a. "Pioupiou".*
Fred's favorite birthday gift was a giant jar of Nutella, a gift from his girl and from his little boy.
a lovely woman who makes a mean chocolate cake.
Fred has traits that most of us have to pay for: curls and long lashes.
Fred is a part-time père Noël* and full time avocat.*
He is témoin* to my marriage with Jean-Marc
(a marriage not done on a lark... but, partly, in a park
after Fred got us a special lawyer
...to deal with those illegal alien "sharks"...)
Fred is a proud père* to Clémence and Matthieu a.k.a. "Pioupiou".*
Fred's favorite birthday gift was a giant jar of Nutella, a gift from his girl and from his little boy.
Fred is fiston* to Michel and has a very funny frèrot* named Antoine.
Fred is beau-frère* to Gwen, that funny guy's wife, and oncle* to Alice and Julien.
Fred's mom, Marianne, is also an avocat--and if her eyes were any greener they'd be avocado vert.*
Fred's got an aunt named Michelle (who rivals Tina Turner for legs si belle!).
Fred is a faithful ami* to a former illegal alien (nommé* Kristi).
Fred has law-abiding and not-so-law-abiding friends: like Pinpin and Astrid (law-abiding) and Guillaume & Isilde (not-so-law-abiding mountain folk). He also has formerly not-so-law-abiding friends, who we mentioned earlier.
Fred is the patron* and friend of Ouahida.* You must read about her grandfather sometime.
Joyeux Anniversaire,* Fredo!
photo: Fred with Max, in 2005
FRENCH VOCABULARY
une soirée (f) gastro = a gastronomic evening; un pote (m) = friend, pal; bien sûr = of course; quarante = forty; un ami (une amie) d'enfance = childhood friend; le parrain (m) = godfather; quelle chance! = what luck!; un époux (une épouse) = spouse; le père Noël = Santa Claus, Father Christmas; un avocat (une avocate) = lawyer; le témoin (m) = witness (best man); le père (m) = father; le pioupiou (sounds like "pyou-pyou") = little soldier; le fiston (m) = son, young man; le frèrot (m) = little brother; le beau-frère (m) = brother-in-law; un oncle (m) = uncle; vert (verte) = green; un ami (une amie) = friend; nommé = named; le patron (m) = boss; Ouahida = read a story about Ouahida ; joyeux anniversaire = happy birthday
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Since I, too, am an avocado (as good an alternative name as any for a "legal eagle" and certainly better than some I have heard), I felt obliged to shout over the Atlantic a hearty "Happy Birthday" to a fellow "advocat!" And speaking of "advocats," check out the wonderful, whimsical and always joyful art of Jovan Obican, a Cannes-born Frenchman of Yugoslavian descent who had a law degree and a passion for painting that included many a picture of the country "advokat" as he spelled it.
Posted by: Diane | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Correction: all of those mispelled "advocats," which must be some kind of green feline that tastes good on salads, I now correct to read, "avocat." Now, I'll just crawl back into little legal hole and die of embarrassment!
Posted by: diane | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 04:31 PM
Avocat...A friend of mine is a lawyer and told me a joke...
1)Il fait si froid l'hiver a Chicago qu'il est frequent de recontrer un Avocat qui a les mains dans ses propres poches!
Posted by: Bernard | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Joyeux anniversaire a Fred de Fred! Jean-Marc, you are hugely blessed to have such a un ami d'enfance -- a loyal, talented, and faithful friend.
I have two such friends dating back to the first days of our freshmen year in high school over 67 years ago. JC,I hope your friendship with Fred lasts longer than that.
After clicking in to read about Ouahida -- lucky me not to have been born in Tunisia after her grandfather switched from cutting down wheat to clipping foreskins!
Posted by: Fred Caswell | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 05:29 PM
My husband Jim and I are both American avocats. Years ago, when Jim was relatively new to the French language, we were touring Brittany. Being young and enthusiastic lawyers, we made a point of looking at courthouses wherever we went and the City of Nantes was no exception.
The menu at an enticing little bistro near the courthouse caught Jim's attention, and he became quite excited about eating there. "Let's eat here," he said. "A lot of lawyers must eat here; they even have a salad named after them -- salade d'avocat!" He was not kidding.
I set him straight with my slightly larger French vocabulary, but since that time, the confusion of lawyer and avocado has become a running joke in our family. To this day, his favorite Christmas stocking present is "lawyer's oil soap", for example.
Posted by: Lynda Gardner | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 05:36 PM
And of course "advocat," a misspelling in French, is also a slight misspelling of the related English "advocate" (lawyer).
Posted by: Janet | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 05:36 PM
Mme. Espinasse, you forgot one: Fred is hot! I laughed out loud at the parenthetical caption about the cute guy in the photo, thinking, "Godson? There's a godson in the picture?" Sorry Matthieu, you are adorable, but your papa is chaud!
Happiest holidays to you and yours Kristin. Thanks for the day-brightening, sometimes poignant, often goofy French "fixes" every week. F-W-A-D is delightful.
Posted by: Misha | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 05:44 PM
A while ago I was visiting my cousin in Paris, where she works as an attorney on tax law issues for the OECD. We went to a nice restaurant in the 7th someplace, and on the menu was an entree that included "avocat hache" (accent aigu on the final e). I asked her if seeing that didn't make her a little nervous. She responded that, being an "avocate," she wasn't too worried on her own behalf, but might be concerned that it could turn out to be one of her male colleagues.
Posted by: Mike Hooban | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 09:53 PM
In a local "restaurant" in the little town of Tourette sur Loup the menu translated the salad of laitue, tomate, concombre, avocat, etc. as: lettuce, tomato, cucumber and lawyers!
Posted by: Bug | Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 12:41 AM
I was buying some little garlic graters in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue and they came with little pieces of paper with suggestions for use...garlic,ginger, chocolate, strawberries, etc. and for the "avocat" or avocado they had translated into English, lawyers. It sure tickled me to think of grated lawyers in a salad or anywhere else.
Posted by: Karinka Calhoun | Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 04:39 AM
So what do you call guacamole in french?
Posted by: Othaniel Lopez | Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 06:25 AM
Being a student of words, this is why I LOVE the French language........Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee!
Posted by: Patti | Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 08:00 PM
In the late sixties/early 70s in England, Avocado green became very fashionable for appliances, kitchen units and specially for bathroom suites - more popular than the brigtht yellow colour that used to be called Harvest gold. By the end of the 70s, everybody hated avocado green ... so much!
No more Avocado green bathroom suites these days and a lot of them got replaced but the Harvest gold baths, toilets and washbasins from the 70s are still greatly appreciated.
Comme on dit (as we say):
"Les goûts et les couleurs, ça ne se discute pas!"
= There's no accounting for taste.
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Lovely smile from father and son!
Great to meet Fred! Happy birthday!... which reminds me it must be your birthday today, Kristin - or was it yesterday?
At this time last year, I sent you "Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau" (Jacques Prévert), without having the slightest idea your Mum was "une artiste peintre"!
"Joyeux anniversaire", Kristin!
Have a wonderful day!
Posted by: Newforest24 | Monday, December 22, 2008 at 02:21 AM
When I was little (maybe 5 or 6) growing up in France, I remember seeing the title of a serials in one of the "feuille de chou" - a title that had me puzzled for a long time: "l'avocat au yeux bleus". You see, I only knew of avocado who grew in every body garden in my corner of France, and had never heard of the other meaning "the laywer". What on earth what a "blue-eyed avocado?"
Sylvie
Posted by: Sylvie, Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener | Monday, December 22, 2008 at 03:07 AM
In Louisiana, "un avocat a terre haute" is a humorously pejorative term to describe a "Philadelphia lawyer," i.e., someone not schooled in the law who nevertheless has a legal opinion on every topic...
Posted by: Etienne Viator | Monday, December 22, 2008 at 03:45 AM
N'oublions pas la liqueur d'avocat! :)
Posted by: JacquelineBrisbane (Oz) | Monday, December 22, 2008 at 05:17 AM
We were dressed, eager and waiting when the door opened. James was back at last.
Posted by: doudoune moncler | Friday, January 10, 2014 at 04:40 AM