Do you galoche?

Up until now there hasn’t been a french word for ‘french kissing.’

Why use one word when several will do… up until now french kissing has been described as ‘kissing at length in the mouth’.

This has now been remedied, the Petit Robert Dictionary 2014 edition, which went on sale on yesterday now has a new addition :-
“Galocher”, to kiss with tongues.

The term “french kiss” once also called a “florentine kiss” is popularly considered to have been brought to the English-speaking world by soldiers returning after the first world war. At the time, the French had a reputation for more adventurous sexual practices.

The word “galocher” was a slang term that has been around for a while but only now has it being officially recognised in a French dictionary.

Interestingly, “La galoche” is an ice-skating boot, so the new term riffs evocatively on the idea of sliding around the ice.

Is French a dying language?

Sunday morning. Huge queue in the boulangerie. I arrived just as mass finished and there was a huge exodus from the church to the boulangerie.

The hot topic of conversation was not at all religious.. surprisingly it was the French language.

This week, the French government have been debating whether in order to encourage more foreign students they should offer some university courses taught in English.

This kind of debate is bound to spark a reaction, the French place so much importance on their linguistic heritage. The Academie Francaise, which offers grammatical advise and offers new alternatives to foreign words is now seriously under threat as the younger generations happily accept and mix of French and English into their daily lives.

The elderly woman in front of me, ‘Thin edge of the wedge, if we all start speaking English we will start seeing the world through the eyes of America.’

A younger woman further up the queue, ‘ Non ce n’est pas vrai, we must embrace the English language or we will left as some small backwater. Our attitudes won’t change just because some universities offer courses taught in English.’

‘Pah, we don’t need to teach in English, France has so much to offer.. imagine teaching Proust in English?..’ came the heated reply.

This debate will rumble on.. and I very much doubt we will be seeing French universities advertising English taught courses any time soon, but I think more and more French universities will, (as is the French way!), without permission quietly teach student in English anyway.

Malestroit, Brittany

Malestroit

It is so easy to take the cultural heritage the surrounds you for granted.

I have been doing our weekly shop in Malestroit for over ten years and I am now blinkered to the beauty of this small town, to the pretty canal that runs through the middle of the amazing architecture.

Today we walked down the canal path, we watched a boat navigate the lock which was hardly visible due to the weight of flowers!, we then ambled through the town, shops all closed so nothing could distract us from the truely ancient buildings.

Malestroit dates back to 987, when it formed part of the pilgrimage to Compostela. The signing of the truce after the hundred year war was carried out in the Chapel de Madeleine, Malestroit. One of the nine barons in Brittany, Malestroit quickly expanded through the Middle Ages. Economic activity was centred around the textile industry and then later the building industry. The Nantes Brest canal which runs through Malestroit further facilitated economic growth and prosperity.

The cobbled streets lead you to the many Romanesque and Gothic mansions.

If you do visit Brittany, Malestroit is well worth a visit....

Malestroit, Southern Brittany

The French extend their Bank Holidays....

It is no secret that the French like a holiday, preferably a long holiday!
 
During May alone there are four Bank holidays!

One difference in France is that all Bank Holidays (apart from the religious ones) are fixed. So the bank holidays on 1^st and 8^th May are always on these dates, whatever the day.
Listen to this for a classic piece of logic…

Yesterday was Ascension Day, so a Bank Holiday. Today is Friday… who wants to go to work for one day before the weekend? The French have the answer… if a Bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday then Monday or the Friday becomes a ‘bridge’ day and they don’t do to work on these ‘bridge days’ either.

They ‘fait le pont’.

The Mayor calls

It is 7.00pm. There is a knock on the door. It is the Mayor.

‘Bonjour Madame Harrington. Can I speak with your husband.’

‘Yes, come in.’

Sounds serious. Why would the Mayor be visiting us at 7.00pm on a Saturday evening?  Could it be about the Right of Way? There is a small strip of land which goes across our garden, an ancient Right of Way which we have been trying to buy for 5 years, but no one seems to have ownership of the Right of Way.

‘Would you like a glass of wine or a coffee?’ I offer.

‘Later’, the Mayor replies, ‘Monsieur Harrington, would you come with me?’

Twenty minutes later they return. The Mayor is now smiling and accepts a coffee.

Mark and the Mayor talk briefly about politics, the new Solar panels at the farm at Pleucaduc and the changes in the Local Plan reducing the amount of building land.

He finishes his coffee and leaves.

‘What was all that about?’ I hiss as he pulls out of the drive,

We close the door.

‘We now have livestock.’

‘What?’, my voice unnaturally high.

‘Horses, four of them, in the field. The mayor has run out of grass.’

‘Do we have to do anything?’, I am nervous of horses, huge creatures with big teeth and kicking hooves.

‘Hope not.’ Mark says grinning…’Want to see them?’

The Mayors' horses.

Fête du Travail

Searching for 13 bells...

The Fête du Travail (Labour day), the first of the Official holidays in May.  This public holiday celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement.

On May 1st, 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court.

It has now become the tradition on May 1^st to give lily of the valley to your friends and family as a symbol of springtime and to wish them happiness. It is said that whoever finds a lily of the valley with 13 small bells will be particularly lucky !

It is the only day one can sell flowers on the streets without official authorization and without having to pay tax !