FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

The game of tir à la corde is illustrated here by our pups.

le tir à la corde

    : tug-of-war

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

This'll be quick today... for by the time you receive this missive, I will be on a train heading north to the American Library in Paris. And, on a less exciting note (so as not to say "sad note"), by the time you receive this letter the puppies will be gone.

Gone from our home, to be exact--yet settled in to a new nest.

I took the following pictures a few days ago, when the remaining four puppies were busy with a game of tir à la corde.*  Watching them "tug" and "war" reminded me of les hauts et les bas* that life will throw at them, no matter how good their new homes may be. 

And so, to our 6 darlings, I would like to tell them that in this vie*...

You've got to know when to clamp down....

...and when to tug...

and, sometimes more importantly,

 
you've got to know when it is time to let go.... and refuel.

Also...

It helps to be a team.

Have fun and don't struggle so much.

Never lose hope...

Give... a lot!

In this way you will always be a winner.

We will miss you Dixie, Épice,* Étoile,* Sugar, and Dune (the last two names we're just trying out... until the new owners let us in on the permanent prénoms*...)

As great grand-mère* Jules suggested, we'll have to have you all over to our house for a big birthday party in one year's time. I can't wait to see how you will have grown (I hope I will have too). Which brings me to the last lesson (or second-to-last lesson): never stop learning and never stop loving.

lots of love,

Grand-mère Kristi

PS: my, how you've grown!

Comments, corrections--and stories of your own--are welcome and appreciated!

~~~~~~~~~~French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~
le tir à la corde = tug-of-war; les hauts et les bas = the highs and lows; la vie (f) = life; une épice (f) = spice; une etoile (f) = star; le prénom (m) = first name; grand-mère (f) = grandmother

Coming this Saturday in Cinéma Vérité ... photos from Suze la Rousse! Don't miss them.

Shopping:

SmartFrench Audio CDs Intermediate/Advanced

French Demystified...simple enough for a beginner but challenging enough for a more advanced student.

Lego Make & Create Eiffel Tower 1:300

Cavallini Carte Postale * Vintage Paris * set of 12 cards Keepsake tin:  Regular & Joyeux Noel

Photo of the puppies (beneath my son's legs) with their little identity tags (having just returned from the vet). Read today's picture story "Puppy Fodder" in which Braise-The-Dog and I offer up our ears, fingers, and toes to the Puppy Gods... before they go. (This is their last week with us...)

le fourrage

    : fodder

Audio File and Example Sentence Download Wav or MP3

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

Kids! Every parent knows that caring for them can be an all-consuming activity, that is, when the kids are not busy consuming you.

Yesterday, Braise and I, exhausted after 7 weeks... and 14 years (respectively) of child-rearing, decided to GIVE IN.  And so we collapsed on the front porch and put up our figurative white flags.

With that... the puppies rushed forth in victory!

After getting our ears, noses, fingers, and toes chewed on... and our shirts and fur slobbered on... on a eu assez*... That's when we decided to play dead in order to get these puppies off our heads!

(Photo, below: Braise, in the background, feigns la mort.* I follow suit, protecting my face just in case...)

Braise is a natural. Just look at her play dead...

In my case, the puppies aren't buying it -- though one stops to feel my pulse with her paws.....

After a bit of ceremonial concern (short-lived sympathy on their part) ... the puppies now esteem... that it is time to revive the drama queens. Let's get their ears! Let's pull on their hair! (Braise, in the background, continues to play dead, unfazed by the toutou* torture...)

The victor! (Actually, there were six of them. Each got his/her turn to rise to the sky as Champion, glorified. 

***
Have you ever let a band of puppies run all over you? Comment here. If not, I urge you to add this to your 10 things to do in 2010 list! (You are making that list aren't you? Why not share a few of the items with us, here? I could use a few ideas for my list. Thanks in advance for the inspiration!)

Also: if you are planning on attending the American Library in Paris event this Wednesday, Oct 7th, then please be sure to let me know so that I might look for you!

~~~~~~~~~French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~
on a eu assez = we'd had enough; la mort = death; toutou = doggie

Le Petit Larron -- The Little Thief.

larron (lah rohn) noun, masculine

    :  thief

l'occasion fait le larron = opportunity makes a thief

Le larron does not seem to be used in conversational French (my daughter taught me the word after she learned it in her French class while reading a classic text) ... so here are some useful synonyms:

Audio File and Example Idiom: Download Wav or  Download MP3

    s'entendre comme larrons en foire = to get along well, to be as thick as thieves

A Day in a French Life...
by Kristin Espinasse

Today's episode will be brief -- brief as the life of a houseplant under the tutelage of a black-thumbed housewife.

Au revoir* to my dear Spathiphyllum plant, a gift from my voisine,* Brigitte. I kept you, dear Spati, en vie* for a record 6 months... when last night six thieves broke out of their prison pen...

(Photo of "thieves breaking out of prison pen" -- not the actual pen--which is much larger. Here, the puppies are simply re-enacting the breakout that led up to so much mischief...)

...wrapped their sharp teeth and puppy breath around your lovely white flowers, and dragged you kicking and screaming across the kitchen and living room floors... leaving your leaves and your dirt in their wiggly-tailed wake.

No time to write; I've got puppies to police and a houseplant to treat...with bandages, glue, and a splint or two --  thanks to the ol' black-thumbed housewife remedy.
.

(photo of Mama Braise, giving les petits larrons a lecture! Oh, those troublemakers look smug!)

Comments, corrections, and stories of your own are welcome and appreciated. Click here to access the comments box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
au revoir = goodbye; la voisine (f) = neighbor; en vie = alive

***.

"Watch out for the Dog!"

Max and Jackie with baby Braise, 2006

la fifille(fee-fee) noun, feminine

 : affectionate term for "my little girl" or "sweetheart"

Petit Larousse (French) definition: fifille = fille, fillette (girl, little girl)

Audio File & Example Sentence:
Listen to my (then 11-year-old) son, Max, pronounce the following sentence:
Viens ici ma fifille! Come here, my girl!

Download MP3 or Download wav

French Expression:
filfille à sa maman = (derogative) mommy's little girl

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE..
by Kristin Espinasse

(Note: the following story was written 3 years ago.)

I had many concerns about acquiring a dog: Who would take it for a walk? Who would make sure there was enough fresh water in its gamelle,* and what about la pillule,* barking, ticks... not to mention who would watch it while we were away?

Strangely, of all my worries, communication wasn't one of them.

"That's a good girl!" I congratulate our puppy, Braise, after she has done her besoins* outside the house (and not on the couch like the last time).
"You are SUCH a good girl!" I repeat, patting her soft head in approval.

"Mom, Braise doesn't understand you!" my 8-year-old says, pointing out the problem: English.

I never thought about our dog being French. I stop to consider Jackie's point. Though I do not agree with my daughter (Braise understands my English... when there's a reward biscuit in my hand), her language comment does remind me of a tip that I have just learned: speak in one-, two-, or three-word commands.

When next I return to the house, I offer our pup a one-syllable English order: "Come!"

But Jackie stands her ground. "Viens!"* she corrects, in French. Our puppy obeys -- only who can say whether it is the French or the English command that worked? Hmmm? Hmmm!

When Braise jumps up on me I react. "Down!" I tell order.
"Koo-shay!"* Jackie insists, over-riding my command.

"Sit!" I continue, determined to educate the dog à ma façon.*
"Assis!"* my daughter counters, with growing concern for our dog's linguistic education. If Jackie has her way, our dog will communicate via French one day.

To my "Shake!" Jackie corrects "Donne la patte!"* and when I say "Good girl!" Jackie feels compelled to translate my flummoxing foreign words: "Bien, fifille!"*

My daughter's concern throws me back in time to when I used to stroll her, as a six-month-old, through the village of St. Maximin. "Are you hungry?" I would say if she cried, or "You seem a little tired." Occasionally a French neighbor would intervene.

"You are not speaking English to your child, are you? The two languages will confuse her!" they cautioned. I remember being taken aback by what I found to be an absurd idea: that the commingling of languages might in some way harm my child, or at least result in mental mayhem.

I listen to the child in question, who is speaking to our puppy in French and to her own mother in English. Instead of letting language tangle in her mind, I'd say she has it wrapped around her Franco-American finger. As for our puppy, she has us all tied around her Provençale paw.
.

***
Comments welcome. Please share with us one benefit of being bi-lingual. Can you think of any negatives (or set-backs) to knowing many languages? Do you believe that there is some truth to what those ladies said about confusing a child by teaching the young learner another language? Share your thoughts and experience here.

Today's story was written years ago. Now, our Braise has puppies of her own. We are much more relaxed about babies, these days, and therefore speak in French, English... and sometimes Franglais! (The photo above was also taken by Jacqui McCargar. Thanks Jacqui!).

~~~~~~~~~~~French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~~~~~
la pillule (f) = pill, birth control; la gamelle (f) = bowl (for pet); les besoins (mpl, from "faire ses besoins" = to relieve oneself) (for an animal: "to do its business"); viens! = come here!; koo-shay! (pronunciation for "couché!" = (lie) down!; à ma façon = my way; assis! = sit; donne la patte! = give me (your) paw; bien, fifille! = good, little girl!