FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Photo: an earth-friendly alternative to tumble drying.

Today we are talking about Frenglish: Friend or Foe? List some of les mots franglais that you have encountered and tell us whether you are charmed--or alarmed!--by the mixing and mingling of languages. Share your thoughts in the comments box.

essorer (eh-so-ray) verb
  1. to wring out, twist; to air, to dry; to spin dry
  2. (old French) to soar

"Essorer, 'to mount'...is a term of falconry expressive of the action of the hawk when he wheels in the air or sails away with little perceptible motion in his outstretched wings and seems to be engaged in *drying* his pinions." from "Transactions of the Philological Society" -by Philological Society

Audio File (follows, after the story column & sponsor's message)




(The following story was posted two years ago.)

While clearing off the table after lunch, I handed my daughter a casserole with leftover gnocchi.* "Take this to the kitchen," I said, "and come back with the sponge, please." Moments later my daughter reappeared, holding in her hand a water-logged éponge.* "J'ai oublié de skwee-zay," she explained, in Frenglish.

"Skwee-zay? You forgot to skwee-zay?" I ask, teasing my nine-year-old before tackling the word imposter.
"Jackie, how do you say 'squeezed' in French?"
"I don't know," she admitted, to my surprise. Well, the French verb for "squeeze" wasn't exactly sitting on the tip of my tongue, legs swinging back and forth like there's no tomorrow, either.

I sat down for coffee with Jean-Marc, handing him a square of chocolate from a box marked "Croquant et Fondant, Chocolat Blanc".* If only French equivalents to English could rhyme as well... it would make the guessing game so much easier.

The white chocolate was rich with almonds, apricots and even nougat--making for a heady tasting experience. Perhaps that is why even Jean-Marc seemed at a loss to translate the French verb for "squeeze"....
"Presser," he offered, before asking for another thick square of chocolate.

That couldn't be right. While you can "press" an orange (and even a grape--as Jean-Marc should know) and while you can be "pressé" or pressed for time, you just don't go "pressing" sponges. At least not in English, where sponges are "squeezed".

"You don't 'press' a sponge," I countered, still at a loss to know the answer on my own. Jean-Marc returned his attention to the subject in time to offer another possibility: "essorer" (to twist dry). My husband doled out the verb with all the lackadaisical stewardship of someone born into a goldmine of French, never having experienced need for nouns, never having been voracious for a verb. And I collected that verb eagerly, hungrily--enviously--with all the desperation of a gold-digger...which is how I got the truth all mixed up. For, just like oranges, grapes, and busy Frenchmen, sponges are in fact most often pressed (pressé) in France (and not so much "twisted" or "essoré").

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Today's Topic: FRENGLISH : Friend or Foe?
List a few Frenglish or Franglais terms that you have encountered. Do you fancy the Frenglish word "skwee-zay", or are you a traditionalist, of the Académie française camp? Does Frangais amuse you... or undo you? Is languge something to get so worked up about, or should we be a little more laisser-faire with all the new terms swimming around out there? Let's talk, via the comments box.


.....................................French Vocabulary...........................
le gnocchi (m) = small potato dumpling; l'éponge (f) = sponge; croquant et fondant chocolat blanc = crunchy, melts-in-the-mouth white chocolate


Audio Clip:Listen to my daughter, Jackie, pronounce the French word essorer and hear the following terms and expressions: Download Essorer2 . Download Essorer2

Terms & Expressions:
Machine à essorer = spin dryer
essorer la salade = to spin dry the salad
essorer la poignée = (motorcycle expression) "to twist the handle" = to get moving
faire essorer le linge = to dry the clothes
Ne pas essorer  (as seen on the care labels inside clothing) = Do not spin dry

In Gifts and Reading:
For drying salad (the old-fashioned, French way)

For drying salad (the new, modern way)

Just about every French household has one of these indoor folding racks. Try it!

A selection of French language magazines.


Verb conjugation:
j'essore, tu essores, il/elle essore, nous essorons, vous essorez, ils/elles
essorent ; past participle: essoré

A is for Allègre, the perfect word for my painterly friend. Read about Tessa in today's story column.

In music: Songs in French for Children


allègre (alegr) adjective

    : jolly, cheerful, light-hearted; lively, merry

  avoir le coeur allègre = to be light-hearted
  marcher d'un pas allègre = to walk briskly, lightly

La musique nous aide à construire nos vies spirituelles, nous apaise, nous console, nous redonne de la joie, nous rend allègre, nous fait danser, chanter. Music helps us to construct spiritual lives, calms us, consoles us, gives us back our joy, renders us cheerful, makes us danse, sing. --Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

Audio File: hear how the French word "allègre" is pronounced, listen to examples:Download Allegre Download Allegre

A so-called southerly wind is steering through our town of Sainte Cécile, causing the rain in its path to spray hither and thither.

From a second-story window now blurry with raindrops, I can barely see three sets of tracks, two dainty, one, dog-pawed, that lead out to the truffle orchard two fields away. How quickly our traces fade!--like laughter in a memory bank of bygone days.

Tess left last night, 24 hours after she'd appeared, with flowers for the front porch, paint brushes in her bag, and poetry knowetry up her sleeve like a trick and a treat.


Tess, left, teaching Max to paint.

Lightness and laughter now mine, it is time--
to further put aside seriousness and, instead,
relax a bit, sit back a bit, and share this friend of mine....

(Introducing Tess, whom I have written about twice* before, and who will now pick up the "pen", in time to recount our weekend replete with hunters, still life, and good times galore...)



Kristi turned to me and smiled, "Why don't you write my post for me?"

"What, write your post!" I said. "I couldn't possibly do that. I wouldn't know where to begin!" A flash of fear rushed through my veins, this woman whose writing I admire so much,  has just offered me carte blanche on her blog. So who am I to refuse, it would be callous and arrogant of me not to accept such a
generous offer.

I am sitting on the sofa, with the comfy sound of the fire, lazy and as relaxed as I am. Braise, the dog, is gazing out of the huge French windows that take my eyes across the grass, and the stream, the little bridge that leads me through the skeleton of winter vines. It's odd, but I can almost feel their pulse: the surge of lime green leaves waiting to push through to see the sun, but they must wait for a few months to come. Meandering, I reach the trees, the place the hunters hide in wait for their prey, and then I look up toward the sky. Mount Ventoux reaches through the clouds, and there my eyes rest, and I feel so glad that I am here.

Yesterday morning, this balmy relaxed feeling that is wrapping itself around me was nowhere to be found. I always get this feeling that there is so much to do, I can't get away, I must stay at home and work and work and work, but all work and no play is no good for me. David kissed me goodbye, and said "smile, enjoy your time away, there is no point in going if you don't have fun." He was right: I haven't seen Kristi properly since this time last year. I think the spirit of love decided to come on the journey with me. The negative thoughts that had been crowding my mind and suffocating my joy, were being transferred to positive happy thoughts, to all the things that I can do and that I am able to do, all the gifts that God has given me, including my wonderful friends.

photo, left: Max in his "Marcel" shirt.
I arrived here at lunch time yesterday. Since, we have walked and talked, and walked and talked and eaten. But the most precious moments, have been the times we have all sat together painting around the kitchen table. Jackie, Max, Kristi and I painting still lifes and imaginary paintings. Calm and serenity pervade, and a feeling of bliss holds us. I am indeed a privileged being.

Comments, corrections--and stories of your own--always welcome, in the comments box. Thanks!



You may remember reading about Tess in past issues of this word journal:
  1. http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2006/01/frotter.html
  2. http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2007/07/oeuvre.html

Tessa's Chef, Art, Food and Daily Life journal:
  http://www.painters-poets-and-puddin.typepad.com


The three orange husks, on the right, are "amour-en-cage". Remember the "love in a cage" story?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Film: The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection
http://amazon.com/o/asin/B000E5LEV0/mdj-20

Diary of a Country Priest - Criterion Collection

French food:
Grey Sea Salt/Sel Gris From Guerande, Brittany France

LU Herbes De Provence Flatbread Crackers


The kids and I learned to paint this weekend, can you tell whose is whose? (That's a puzzle from my friend, Alicia, beneath the art.)

I'll try to post a photo of my daughter, next time (she wasn't in the mood for pictures!)