Mot du jour, etc.

[Portia]

molles collines
mailles redoublées
la roideur

Oh, Hugo, the back page of your book makes me question my major.

[Katya]

molles collines
mailles redoublées
la roideur

Oh, Hugo, the back page of your book makes me question my major.

Are you going to deign to define any of those?

[Katya]

piètre (adj) - mediocre, poor, substandard, paltry

It's also notable that this adjective generally precedes the noun it modifies (unlike most French adjectives).

[Digit]

I took a French class in college many years ago, and I think I remember a mnemonic the teacher said regarding that (a fairly reliable set of classes of adjective types for which the French versions come before their nouns): BAGS, which stands for Beauty, Age, Goodness (whether good or bad), and Size. Kind of a general rule of thumb and not hard and fast.

That one looks like it fits in the Goodness category.

[Katya]

I took a French class in college many years ago, and I think I remember a mnemonic the teacher said regarding that (a fairly reliable set of classes of adjective types for which the French versions come before their nouns): BAGS, which stands for Beauty, Age, Goodness (whether good or bad), and Size. Kind of a general rule of thumb and not hard and fast.

That one looks like it fits in the Goodness category.

I learned the same mnemonic, but that device serves mainly to help students remember a small set of very common adjectives: beau/laid; vieux/jeune; bon/mauvais; and grand/petit. By contrast, adjectives such as terrible and énorme ("terrible" and "enormous," respectively) are arguably also qualities of goodness and size, but both adjectives follow the nouns they modify. So I'd still consider piètre an exception, of sorts.

[Katya]

affluent (nm.) - tributary

notable for being a faux ami (false cognate)

[Giovanni Schwartz]

My miniscule amount of French at this point has learned me that "ami" means at least friend, investigator, cognate, and I swear there's something else I'm forgetting. I was going to ask why so many words sound the same in French, then I realized I speak Chinese.

[Katya]

My miniscule amount of French at this point has learned me that "ami" means at least friend, investigator, cognate, and I swear there's something else I'm forgetting. I was going to ask why so many words sound the same in French, then I realized I speak Chinese.

I don't know if ami actually means "cognate" outside of the expression faux ami. (My limited searching suggest that mot apparenté is a better translation for "cognate.")

It would be interesting to do a survey of the words used by missionaries for "investigator" and "companion," since the latter could have some problematic implications if you picked the wrong translation (and the former just sounds weird, even in English).

[Katya]

Also, I wanted to say that I'm really enjoying this thread. I had no idea if anyone else would have any interest in participating and instead I'm loving every contribution and response.

[Digit]

My miniscule amount of French at this point has learned me that "ami" means at least friend, investigator, cognate, and I swear there's something else I'm forgetting. I was going to ask why so many words sound the same in French, then I realized I speak Chinese.

Smurf

[Katya]

septentrional (adj.) - northern

[Katya]

revendiquer (vtr) - to demand, claim

[Digit]

Otaku: a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly (but not limited to) anime and manga.

Korean otaku marries anime character pillow

[Katya]

temple de la renommée (nm) - hall of fame (lit. "temple of renown")

[Katya]

fantoche (adj) - puppet (as in "puppet government" or "puppet regime")

[Giovanni Schwartz]

靈車--literally, spirit car. Anyone want to guess the meaning of it?

[Dead Cat]

靈車--literally, spirit car. Anyone want to guess the meaning of it?

Is it the River Styx boat (or whatever the cultural equivalent is)?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Nope! Guess again!

[Katya]

Umm, your dream car or vehicle.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Nope!

It's actually a hearse.