So...I've read that book 3 times in French, and somehow I didn't notice that. I guess my brain just read it as chapeau. That is fantastic! There are definitely some great puns in that translation.Katya wrote:The French word for "hat" is chapeau ("sha-poh") and the French word for "choice" is choix ("shwa"), so in the French version of the first Harry Potter book, the Sorting Hat is translated as the pun "choixpeau."
Mot du jour, etc.
- Indefinite Integral
- Posts: 370
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:57 am
- Location: Not Quite Provo...ish
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
"The pursuit of mathematics is a divine madness of the human spirit." ~ Alfred North Whitehead
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
The French word for firefly, which of course comes from Latin lux, light.luciole
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
In French, if you hang onto someone's every word you "drink their words" (boire ses paroles).
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
lisibilité -- readability
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Glockenturm -- clocktower
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
Maledire and Benedire are "to curse" and "to bless," respectively. Makes sense.
"If you don't put enough commas in, you won't know where to breathe and will die of asphyxiation"
--Jasper Fforde
--Jasper Fforde
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
The French-Canadian word poutine probably comes from the English word pudding, which in turn comes from Norman/French word bodin, referring to a type of sausage. Redundant borrowings for the win! (Also, someone needs to start serving poutine with sausage, just so we can come full circle.)
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
That..... might actually not be too bad.Katya wrote:(Also, someone needs to start serving poutine with sausage, just so we can come full circle.)
Deus ab veritas
Re: Mot du jour, etc.
I never knew that papier-mâché translated to "chewed paper."
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.