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Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:42 am
by Portia
molles collines
mailles redoublées
la roideur
Oh, Hugo, the back page of your book makes me question my major.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:16 am
by Katya
Portia wrote: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?
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:40 am
by Katya
piètre (adj) - mediocre, poor, substandard, paltry
It's also notable that this adjective generally precedes the noun it modifies (unlike most French adjectives).
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:48 am
by 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.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:41 pm
by Katya
Digit wrote: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.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:43 pm
by Katya
affluent (nm.) - tributary
notable for being a faux ami (false cognate)
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:34 pm
by 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.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:07 pm
by Katya
Giovanni Schwartz wrote: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).
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:10 pm
by 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.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:15 pm
by Digit
Giovanni Schwartz wrote: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
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:33 pm
by Katya
septentrional (adj.) - northern
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:46 pm
by Katya
revendiquer (vtr) - to demand, claim
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:47 am
by 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
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:29 pm
by Katya
temple de la renommée (nm) - hall of fame (lit. "temple of renown")
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:57 pm
by Katya
fantoche (adj) - puppet (as in "puppet government" or "puppet regime")
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:34 pm
by Giovanni Schwartz
靈車--literally, spirit car. Anyone want to guess the meaning of it?
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:23 pm
by Dead Cat
Giovanni Schwartz wrote: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)?
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:50 pm
by Giovanni Schwartz
Nope! Guess again!
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:07 pm
by Katya
Umm, your dream car or vehicle.
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:36 pm
by Giovanni Schwartz
Nope!
It's actually a hearse.