FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Joyeuse Saint Valentin! That's Happy Valentine's Day in French. Photo: A "liste des courses" spotted at our local supermarché...where pick-up artists and good Samaritans operate. Don't miss today's vocabulary-packed story, below.

TODAY'S WORD: se faire draguer or se faire brancher

        : to get hit on

brancher une nana = to hit on a girl, to make a pass at a girl

CLICK HERE to listen to the following example sentence

Ah bon? Tu t'es fait draguer au supermarché? Oh really? You got hit on at the supermarket?

Try Easy French Step-by-Step. Click here to view the book.

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE  by Kristi Espinasse

"My Inner Hot Mama"

While putting away groceries I reached for an item my husband had requested--pleased to have brought back the right ones. "Found you some rasoirs," I shouted to the man two rooms down. "A nice man helped me...." I added, smiling to myself and waiting for a reaction. Such plaisanterie is healthy in a marriage, n'est-ce pas?

"Ah bon? Tu t'es fait draguer au supermarché?" Mr Two-Rooms-Down called back, feigning la jalousie.

This time I snickered, remembering what a French woman told me two years ago, "At your age, you should be grateful your husband is still so attracted to you." Her comment made me feel so....unsexy, unadventurous and perhaps even undeserving? I have heard a similar statement from American women, a generalized idea that at this age, we should be grateful for a man's attention.

Earlier, back at the grocery store, such words came to mind as I stood before the men's razor display, suspicious of the stranger who'd begun talking to me. Busy wondering "is this guy hitting on me?" a more humbling and sarcastic thought surfaced: "Ha! At your age!" It immediately silenced my Inner Hot Mama, who gets stuffed deeper and deeper into the psyche--the more I listen to the media and certain women.

"Vous cherchez un rasoir?" the man with curly black hair smiled.

"Oui. Pour mon mari," Yes, for my husband, I pointed out.

"Does he have soft or coarse hairs?" the man replied in English, with a thick French accent. His question set me back.

After all these years I should know whether my husband has soft or coarse whiskers! In a guilty panic I studied the stranger's stubble (a.k.a. la barbe de trois jours).

"Coarse!" I guessed.

"Here, these should be good for a man on vacation," he said, handing me a 6-pack of "Wilkinson Swords."

Vacation? He thinks I'm a tourist. I did not correct him. Instead, I said Merci, c'est vraiment gentil and, as he walked off, I thought of how absurd it was to have confused a pick-up artist with a good samaritan. The ego is a funny thing. One minute it's a Hot Mama, the next it tells itself it should be so grateful, at one's age, for even being noticed at all.

***

When Mr Two-Rooms-Down came into the kitchen, I touched his stubbly face. "What kind of whiskers do you have?" I said, handing him his razors. "Soft or coarse?"

"Je ne sais pas," he mumbled, pulling me close and planting a kiss on my middle-aged lips. Whatever the mainstream says, I will always be a hot mama in his heart. And for that I'm grateful.

***
EDIT ME: If you see une faute de frappe (a typo) in French or in English, I would greatly appreciate it if you would point it out in the comments or via email. Merci beaucoup!


Photo from 2005. This weekend Jean-Marc and I celebrate 30 years since we met in a nightclub in Aix-en-Provence. My husband has enriched my life in a myriad of ways (I even got the word myriad from him, after seeing it in his recent chapter...), and even if I don't golf, I appreciate each new defi or challenge he sets for me, including a recent swim with the dolphins which I hope to tell you about. I've been in some uncomfortable places, because of Jean-Marc's adventurous nature, but oh the stories he gives me to tell! The biggest is our love story, which I am focusing on in our war of the roses and wine memoir. Our intercultural marriage hasn't been easy, as you will see. I hope you will consider buying our book-in-progress, and begin reading it in installments. Click here to support our book project by buying a copy of our memoir, The Lost Vineyard.

FRENCH VOCABULARY
Increase your French vocabulary with these useful terms from today's story

le rasoir = razor
la plaisanterie = banter
n'est-ce pas? = isn't that true
ah, bon? = really
tu t'es fait draguer? = you got hit on?
la jalousie = jealousy
vous cherchez? = are you looking (for something)?
mon mari = my husband
la barbe de trois jours = stubble (stylish stubble)
vraiment = really
gentil = nice
je ne sais pas = I don't know


A valentine for you. I miss exchanging these colorful cards as we did once upon a time with all our classmates. Remember this practice?