In books: The story of John Hu, a lowly but
devout Chinese Catholic who in 1722 accompanied a Jesuit missionary on a
journey to France — one that ended with Hu's confinement in a lunatic
asylum. At once a triumph of historical detective work and a gripping
narrative, The Question of Hu deftly probes the collision of two cultures,
with their different definitions of faith, madness, and moral obligation.

sein
(sehn [silent (nasal)] "n") noun, masculine

  : breast, bosom; (figurative
meaning: midst, center, heart, gulf)

Quote and Pronunciation (hear my
daughter, Jackie, read these French words): Download sein.mp3. Download sein.wav

Garde au sein du malheur
l'espérance et la foi : Tout pauvre peut trouver un plus pauvre que
soi. Keep, in the midst of misfortune, hope and faith: one can always
find another who is less fortunate than oneself. –Juan
Manuel

~

On a Saturday morning drive, the kids and I speed past fields of
poppies, canals choked with irises, and little roadside perennials, including
hollyhocks (the French, I've just discovered, call them "rose trémières").
Now if only I could name the other flowers carpeting the colorful countryside
at this time of year….

For this reason, I am on my way to the
botanical exposition in the town of Malaucène.* If my children are with me,
that's because I have bribed them with cash and not because they are
fascinated by the common name for "valériane"* ("lily of Spain" a.k.a "herbe
aux chats"*– something I just found out
myself last week).

When
we arrive at Vaison-la-Romaine, and still haven't seen a sign for Malaucène,
I grow concerned. "But where is Malaucène?" I question. "Why haven't we seen
a sign yet?"

From the back of the car I hear snickering.
"Hey guys.
Keep it down!… and keep your eyes peeled for a sign that
reads Malaucène!"

(More snickering from the back seat…).

I
recognize these snickers: "pronunciation snickers" they are. The sound
of Malaucène–as pronounced by a lazy learner of French–has my
Francophone children in stitches again.

"Mal-oh-seNNNNN" Max says,
correcting my pronunciation. "And not 'mal-oh-SEH(N)'!"

"Sen" and
"seh(n)": the one might be suitable pronunciation for a river running through
Paris, but the other one, uttered, utterly means "bosom"!

Come-to-think
of it, the name "Malaucène" did seem a bit odd… especially when breaking
the word down into individual components: mal au cène (sehn?). Then again,
that a town might be called "Ache-In-The-Breast" didn't surprise me too much.
After all, the French aren't prudes when it comes to naming
places (case in point: the French town of "Condom"*… and never mind that
Condom doesn't mean condom* in English, the town's name still causes tourists
to blush and/or snicker, like those kids in the back of my car…).

A
kilometer later, when I still haven't seen any signs to Malaucène, I see
a flickering green cross: a pharmacy. "I'm going to pull over and ask
for directions to "Malaucène," I explain to the kids.

My son and
my daughter exchange amused looks. That's when Max finally offers
some direction: "Mom," he suggests. "Just don't ask the pharmacist where 'Boob
Ache' is located."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malaucène
= town in the Vaucluse; la valériane (f) = valerian (valeriana officinalis,
Valerianaceae) a.k.a. "St. George's herb";
l'herbe (f) aux chats = cat mint herb (for its effect, similar to catnip, on
cats); Condom = town in the Gers region of France; condom = the French word for condom is "un préservatif"; boob ache = (the
French term "mal au sein"–here, the faulty pronunciation for the village
"Malaucène"–translates to "pain in the
breast"
.

BOOKS:
With the Help of Our
Friends from France: Stabilizing and Living with Advanced Breast Cancer. Upon
learning that her breast cancer had spread to her liver, Carol Silverander
was given a three percent chance of beating the disease, and was told she
would probably live for just two years. This is the story of how she came to
think about cancer in a different way, and discovered an innovative form of
treatment that had been pioneered by two remarkable physicians in France. 

Read
about how my mom coped with her cancer, while being treated in France, in my
book "Words in a French Life"

"The
Botanist and the Vintner". In the mid-1860s, grapevines in
southeastern France inexplicably began to wither and die. Jules-Émile
Planchon, a botanist from Montpellier, was sent out to investigate. Read
more, here

Terms
& Expressions:
  donner le sein à un enfant = to breast-feed a baby
 
le cancer du sein = breast cancer
  aller seins nus = to go topless
  au
sein de = in the middle of
  au sein du Père = in the bosom of the
Father
  au sein du luxe = in the lap of luxury
  le sein de la terre = the
bowels of the earth

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