FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Also: a telling-off, bawling out, blowing up, chewing out or "a giving to another of one hell of a bad time". Get the picture?

"Arguing is to the modern Frenchman what thinking was to Descartes, a proof of existence....Vitupero ergo sum: I bicker, therefore I am." --from the book "Culture Shock! France" by Sally Adamson Taylor

Idioms & Expressions:
recevoir une engueulade = to be hauled over the coals (to be told off)

"Ils se sont quittés sur une engueulade. They parted after a stinking row."
--quote and translation from the Dictionary of French Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Henry Strutz

Listen to my daughter, Jackie, pronounce today's words and example sentence:
Download engueulade.mp3 . Download engueulade.wav.
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A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse
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When Jean-Marc and I were in Paris last month, we stayed at Florence and Olivier's love nest in the onzième. A "shopping list" posted on the fridge had me admiring the couple's 15-year-old recipe for amour.  Scribbled on a piece of paper were these essential ingredients for a happy union:

MA LISTE DES COURSES

- 1 kg de câlins
- 300 g de caresses
- 2 kg de tendresse
- 1/2 T de bisous
- 0 kg d'engueulades


"MY SHOPPING LIST"

- 1 kilo of cuddles
- 300 grams of caresses
- 2 kilos of tenderness
- 1/2 T of kisses
- 0 kilos of shouting

One thing that amused be about this list was the ingredient engueulades. But, of course! I thought, knowing all along that shouting somehow measures into real love. But just how much temper... tempers love? I wondered, rechecking the list of ingredients. That's when I noticed the zero allotment...

A little disheartened to realize that the Love Recipe was limited to only sweet ingredients (personally, our marriage "cake" has always included a good measure of salt), I had an inspiration....

I picked up a virtual crayon and crossed out that "0" as well as that "kilo". Next, having looked both ways and when the coast was clear, I scribbled in a new measurement in place of the "0":

"1 heaping, HOLLERING teaspoon!"

I may not be the best cook, but this is one recipe that I have been perfecting ever since cutting a frosty French wedding cake (with the help of my Sometimes Huffy Husband) a decade and a half ago.

Signed,
A Sometimes Hissy Housewife

:: Le Coin Commentaires ::

Comments are the best part of French Word-A-Day. Thank you for leaving yours here! Can't think of anything to write? How about listing a few of the ingredients that make up your recipe for happy relationships? We're listening!