Lady Gaga

For my français écrit classe we have to write an argumentative paper. Fortunately I already had an idea in mind. The other day my chéri sent me the link to watch the Lady Gaga video for ''Telephone'' because there is some harp in it. I wasn't overly impressed by the 5 seconds of harp in the song. What I did find bouleversant was  how borderline pornographic it was. I mean, we basically see everything except Lady's muff in this video (except I would bet my first-born harp that Lady Gaga does not have a muff). Lady Gaga is basically the equivalent of a Barbie doll, except most self-respecting people strip down their Barbie dolls and make them have simulated sex in the privacy of their own homes rather than on youtube with over a billion views.

I digress. The main reason I wanted to blog about this is because Lady Gaga is often lauded or scorned for her outré fashion sense. Outré being the past participle of the French verb ''outrer'' which means to go beyond. And if you are me, you are wondering if Lady Gaga can speak French (because I just saw a tweet that she made that was in French). Some websites say yes, and I guess the proof is at 3:52 in the ''Bad Romance'' video where she says like, three words in French:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I

To finish off my Lady Gaga rant, I will just summarize my feelings by saying that her ''performance art'' is pretty vacuous. It entertains people, but entertainment and art aren't necessarily the same thing. She talks like she is empowered by her wacky fashions, but I don't see anything empowering about obligatory Brazillian waxes every few weeks.

Today's word: Inondation

Inondation is the French word for flood. In English, we say "inundation". But usually we say flood. Sometimes I hear people used "inundated" in English in a more figurative sense. This word comes from Latin " inundatus" which means wave. I am often kind of dismayed in class when an Anglophone asked what a French word means when it has an English cognate. Really? Maybe you should learn your own language before trying to learn another one. It can certainly help. There are quite a few Asians in my classes and I'm pretty sure they don't have anything to go on for cognates. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. Although I think most of them probably know some English already, and they have little electronic translators that they bring to class.


I have been reading a French novel and refusing to look up any words and just guess the meanings based on the context. I finally broke down because I knew the protagonist was playing a game, and he threw one of the pieces at his girlfriend and she started to lose blood. Before that part of the book I had just imagined that this game that I didn't recognize the name of was maybe tiddlywinks. So after she started losing blood I looked up the word: it was darts. That made more sense.

Gay Paree by Charles Bukowski

gay paree
---------
the cafes in Paris are just like you imagine
they are:
very well-dressed people, snobs, and
the snob-waiter comes up and takes your
order
as if you were a 
leper.
but after you get your wine
you feel better
you begin to feel like a snob
yourself
and you give the guy at the next table
a sidelong glance
he catches you and
you twitch your nose
a bit as if you had just smelled
dogshit
then you
look away.

and the food
when it arrives 
is always too mild.
the French are delicate with their
spices.

and
as you eat and drink
you realize that everybody is
terrorized:

too bad
too bad
such a lovely city
full of cowards.

then more wine brings more
realization:
Paris is the world and the world
is
Paris.

drink to it
and
because of
it.

The only tourist in Havana - Leonard Cohen

The only tourist in Havana turns his thoughts homeward 
By Leonard Cohen


Come, my brothers,

let us govern Canada,
let us find our serious heads,
let us dump asbestos on the White House,
let us make the French talk English,

not only here but everywhere,
let us torture the Senate individually

until they confess,
let us purge the New Party,
let us encourage the dark races

so they'll be lenient

when they take over,
let us make the CBC talk English,
let us all lean in one direction

and float down

to the coast of Florida,
let us have tourism,
let us flirt with the enemy,
let us smelt pig-iron in our back yards,
let us sell snow

to under-developed nations,
(It is true one of our national leaders
was a Roman Catholic?)
let us terrorize Alaska,
let us unite

Church and State,
let us not take it lying down,
let us have two Governor Generals

at the same time,
let us have another official language,
let us determine what it will be,
let us give a Canada Council Fellowship

to the most original suggestion,
let us teach sex in the home

to parents,
let us threaten to join the U.S.A.

and pull out at the last moment,
my brothers, come,
our serious heads are waiting for us somewhere

like Gladstone bags abandoned

after a coup d'état,
let us put them on very quickly,
let us maintain a stony silence

on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Havana
April 1961

Il vaut mieux rester sous la couette...

It has been pretty chilly here lately by Bordeaux standards, hovering around 0 degrees C. My language partner here (whom I only ever met once in person and now just have her on facebook) made a status update about how cold it was and that she didn't want to take her chin out from under the couette... which is the French word for duvet. But why is that the French word? Doesn't "duvet" sound like a French word?

It is actually. It means "down" in French. It can also apparently mean sleeping bag (which I would have called un sac de couchage... which is also used and a much more literal translation from English).

So just to clarify this further: "duvet" is the Great Britain English word, and the American word is "comforter". "Duvet" is a French word, but the French word for "duvet" is "couette". Unfortunately I have to pull my chin out of my couette regardless, because I have to go to my Grammar class.