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Tuesday 10 October 2006

French Lesson...

This came up at work - apropos of nothing, really. (Just goes to show that we obviously have too much time on our hands, I suppose.) Anyway, someone mentioned someone's boudoir so I asked did that person who'd mentioned it know the origin of the word and they said no...so I told them but they were in the middle of chatting to someone else, so I cut and pasted it from the Oxford Hachette English/French Dictionary (online edition) and emailed it to them.

And then I thought why restrict myself to boring my work colleagues with French lexical trivia, when I have an audience of ....ooooh, half a dozen....who could be just as easily involved in the tedium with a mere click of the mouse?:

bouder / bude / Þ verb table: aimer
I verbe transitif to avoid [personne]; to want nothing to do
with [études]; to stay away from [spectacle]; to
steer clear of [marchandise]; il ne boude pas
le vin/les distractions he never turns down a
glass of wine/a good time.
II verbe intransitif to sulk.
III se bouder verbe pronominal not to be on speaking
terms.


So there you go. The sulking room.

p.s. Doesn't the word boude just capture the meaning in sound? You can just picture the bottom lip cantilevering out as you hear it.

I wonder if Thierry Henry has got one......?




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12 comments:

  1. "I wonder if Thiery Henry has got one..."

    He has indeed apparently, and according to rumours, it's of quite impressive proportions nes pas...

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  2. The sulking room. Suggests all French people are obnoxious teenagers, who put Cure posters on the ceiling and sigh pointedly when Mum suggests getting some fresh air in here, love.

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  3. Oh I had a Cure poster on the ceiling. Thought I was the only one.

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  4. Je voudrais un boudoir pour moi.

    Mais, je voudrais un bouteille de vin dan ma chambre aussi.

    Et un posteur de La Cure. (C'est masculine ou feminine?)

    Et un Roberttttt Smit dans ma chambre aussi. Je dit Smit! Smit non Swipe - vous etes pour Spin! Spin est le nombre un dans votres libres.

    Vous etes splendide Monsieur Swipe.
    (Puis-je tutoyer?)

    Madame Bloom (Je suis tres jolie n'est ce pas?) J'espere que I haven't made any mistakes....rusty is not the word.

    Boude - malheuresement is also a wonderful sounding Francais word, don't you reckon?

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  5. I tried really hard on that last comment. It actually hurt my head a bit.

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  6. I tried really hard on that last comment. It actually hurt my head a bit.

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  7. To misquote Bill Wyman:

    "Je suis un blog star - J'avais un residence..."

    And that's the extent of *my* French....

    Spinny's got a bloke now, Mollster - alas and alack.

    (Well, she's got a bloke dressed up in women's clothing who's seen her cleavage and has her mobile number - which is as good as...)

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  8. Blimey - I'm heading over to Spin's in a thrice!

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  9. "I wonder if Thierry Henry has got one......?"

    The whole of the Arsenal starting XI have boudoirs, which have been paid for by an English consortium.

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  10. No posters of Bob Smith on my ceiling. Just mirrors for me.

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  11. I like the idea of a having a fully-fledged sulking room. Everyone goes on about dining rooms, but when was the last time you dined? I always just eat stuff.

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  12. "Voulez vous verifier les presion des pneus, et les ganfles ci c'est necessaire". Had to learn that for a play we did in our class about a visit to a garage.

    The youngsters don't know what fun is these days, 'appen.

    I failed Frenceh O-level twice, as I never tire of telling people.

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