Quenottes and mots (Words book-signing) at Crawford Doyle Booksellers. Photo by Nancy Caswell, here with Fred.

quenotte (kuh-nowt) noun, feminine
  tooth,
toothy-peg

The French word quenotte is used in "le langage enfantin" or
kiddy talk. Kid-at-heart adults seem to use it too… Read on:

Sa figure
était une pomme rouge, un bouton de pivoine prêt à fleurir, et là-dedans
s’ouvraient, en haut, deux yeux noirs magnifiques, ombragés de grands cils
épais qui mettaient une ombre dedans; en bas, une bouche charmante, étroite,
humide pour le baiser, meublée de quenottes luisantes et microscopiques.

Her face was a red apple, a peony bud ready to bloom;
and in it there opened, high up, two magnificent dark eyes, shaded by great
thick lashes that cast a shadow on them; lower down, a charming mouth, small,
moist for kissing, furnished with lustrous, little microscopic
teeth.

From the book Best Short Stories (Dual-Language): Included are
"La Parure," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "La Maison Tellier," "La Ficelle," "Miss
Harriet," "Boule de Suif" and "Le Horla," all reflecting Maupassant’s
intimate familiarity with Paris and the universality of his creations.

Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word "quenotte" and the text, above:

Download quenotte.mp3.Download quenotte.wav

After our daughter talked us into adopting "une
plante carnivore,"* or flesh-eating flora, it was our son’s turn to beg for a
petrifying plant. For Max, that meant a quartet of cacti.

At the
pépinière,* we settled on four pokey, piquant, prickly, and pin-topped
plants. Next, I informed Max that it was my turn to shop (seeing the nursery
had a homey section at the back of the store….).

While admiring the
vintage clocks and embroidered blankets, I remembered that I was in the
market for a gift not for myself, but for someone else. A little someone else,
or soon-to-be someone else, that is.

I was surprised to see "newborn"
items on display but, then again, we *were* in a "nursery"… of sorts.
Noticing a small hand-painted box with the words "Boîte à Quenottes"* etched
across the top, I thought I’d stumbled onto the most original present. A
tooth box! But just when my enthusiasm had reached its peak, doubt set
in.

As I examined the inside of the wooden box, marveling at all the
"little caves" in which one could set fallen teeth for display, a thought
struck me: What if the tooth-box idea was more than original… what if it
was downright ODD? Next, a line of self-questioning began along with the
realization that what I would be offering, in effect, was a box for lost
body parts!

Perhaps, I questioned, a lost tooth is best left that way:
LOST, and not laid down in a wooden box for viewing? What might the gift
recipient think, on opening the box only to find a multi-cavitied cemetery
for incisors?

Returning the baby tooth box to the shelf, I had to ask
myself: What WERE you thinking? But before I could think too much further, I
ran out of the store, a toothy grin following me (my son, delighted with his
prickly purchase), to the comfort and "normalcy" of home: save a
flesh-eating plant, and a kooky quartet of
cacti.

.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
une
plante (f) carnivore = carnivorous plant (in our home that’d be a "Venus Fly
Trap"!); une pépinière (f) = nursery; une boîte (f) à quenottes = tooth
box

Get your own Venus Fly Trap or "Carnivorous – Dionaea"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shopping~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eau De
Botot – The worlds first mouthwash invented in 1755 by Dr. Julien Botot for
Louis XV of France. Recognized by the Royal Society of Medicine as a
Superior Natural Product. Made in France. Directions: add a few drops to
small glass of warm water. gargle and Rinse Mouth.

Hotel
de Paris coir doormat

French
posters: "Pate Dentrifice du Docteur Pierre" & "Eau de Botot"
Words
in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France

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