Southwest of winter: bare trees & golden vine leaves.
matelas (mat lah) noun, masculine
: mattress
related: sommier (box spring), surmatelas (pillow top), matelassé,e (quilted, padded)
cacher son argent/ses économies sous un matelas =
to hide money/savings beneath the mattress
retourner son matelas (côte hiver, côte été) =
to turn over one's mattress (winter side, summer side)
protéger le matelas avec une alèse =
to protect a mattress with a mattress cover
You may listen to the above idioms here. Feel free to add more terms & expressions in the comments box.
Book Recommendation:
I am currently reading and being riveted by Victor Hugo's Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man) Read it in French or in English.
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A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
For several months now, I've had the sneaking suspicion that our mattress is on its last leggy box spring. Unlike other worn-out items, which give a clear sign when they need replacing (the coffee machine malfunctions, the computer crashes…)—unlike these obvious indices—a mattress doesn't break. It will live on for as long as the user will tolerate the torture of coil springs and nightly flings.
Flings! I'm talking about "the trampoline effect" or what happens when you've a threateningly threadbare matelas and your husband decides to turn over—as he will nine times each night.
To a mattress martyr such as yourself, the turning over of a spouse or a partner on a paltrily padded mattress sets into motion a series… of sauts (think of so many mattress springs from which you are separated but by a few strings!). One minute you are dreaming of flying and the next—tu voles, véritablement!
Just like moods, an old mattress has its ups and downs, literally des hauts et des bas. We've just read about the ups (triggered by a turning or shifting spouse); as for the "downs", they occur midpoint between his (or her) side of the bed and your side, wherein runs a valley deep as the Rhone. You are fine as long as you cling to the hillside that is your own upper half of the mattress. But should you nod off at night… you might roll right down to the middle of the mattress, nose-to-nose with your miserable mattress mate.
The upside of an old mattress is being able to count—with the backs of your thighs—all the coins hidden just beneath. And if the mattress is really old and thin, you can even read your diary (should it be deeply penned).
So, remember, the next time you recline… and can feel a dime… that's a sure sign of mattress decline!
:: Le Coin Commentaires ::
Corrections, comments, and stories of your own are welcome in the comments box.
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French Vocabulary
un indice = sign, indication
le matelas = mattress
le saut = jump, leap
tu voles, véritablement! = you fly, truly!
des hauts et des bas = highs and lows
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LE JEUX DE CARTES. 15-year-old Max (above, right) and friend, Edouard.
And that's Max (in the T shirt with bunched up sleeves). Edouard is on the right.
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Même les choses les plus simples sont difficiles pour ceux qui ne savent pas lire.
Even the simplest things are difficult for those who do not know how to read.
La vendeuse dit:-Je regrette, il ne me reste plus aucun matelas.
The saleswoman said: “I’m sorry, I haven’t a simgle mattress left.”
This post reminds me of the time my husband I stayed in an old hotel somewhere around Gemenos and when I layed down on the bed I rolled right to the middle. The mattress was shot, you sunk to the middle as soon as you layed down. The only way we could sleep that night was back to back, smashed together in the sunken old mattress.
I think that those of us of a certain age have been through many a mattress with the problems you described. However, I must digress to tell of our wonderful discovery: Saturday night my wife and I went to our favorite restaurant Cafe 128. As I was looking down the wine list I noticed a wine called Mistral and I thought that somebody was copying the name of Jean-Marc’s wine, but on further reading it said Dom. Rouge-Bleu – it was in fact J-M’s wine, being served in our favorite restaurant! If J-M visits St. Paul (or Minneapolis) this year I’ll get Jill, the owner, to meet Jean-Marc.
Hi Kristin, I don’t usually comment, but I just wanted to say that I enjoyed learning some more advanced derivatives of ‘matelas’ and also your funny story about yours. Dors bien !
Is it my imagination or were there places in France that offered: Refection de matelas – mattress repairs. Haven’t seen that inyears, and I have no idea what repairs were offered.
I also am reading an exciting book right now. It is Stacy Schiff’s Saint-Exupéry and it is getting me ready for a trip to Morocco in March. There is a quote about books that I particularly like. “He claimed not to be able to sleep at night without a pile (of books) by his bedside…’He did not actually read them, but the thoughts which kept him company were there, locked in the books like precious medicines in their phials…they were in arm’s reach, should the need for them arise.'” What a kindred spirit!
Be ware of new mattresses in the USA. Made me laugh when I read you are ready to replace your mattress. We ‘thought’our old mattress was ready to be replaced.
Thinking mattress replacement was like it used to be when we bought the ol’ sagger 20 years ago. Nope, mattresses are no longer built for comfort. They’re too thick 15 -17 inches and sheets don’t fit, mattress pads don’t work and when you try to sleep on the new mattress it slowly surrounds you threatening to choke off your air. The selection of mattresses is insurmountable!
We finally settled on one only to find that in one week it sagged with deep depressions where we slept, we couldn’t turn over and nightmares of being caught up in the darn thing became a regular habit. After trying to get used to it we finally returned it only to get another monster that is equally as uncomfortable. Now we have to try to get a third one…
We wish we’d kept our old one, at least we knew the monster and loved it.
Your life will change when you get a new mattress. I thought it was all the harp hauling I did that was killing my back – but when I got a new, fluffy, pillow-top mattress, all my aches and pains went away!
Salut Kristin,
I enjoyed your story today. I like the “embedded” humor and the rhyme you slipped in at the end.
Before you buy a new mattress, make sure you have a pre-planned exit strategy for your old one. You probably don’t want to give it to any of your friends or neighbors and in some areas it’s illegal to sell them. They are good though for a guest room. . . .keeps the visitor stays short! The best bet is to have the company that sold you the new one, agree to take the old one.
P.S. I think you can buy them on a “lay-away” plan.
À bientôt
Hi Kristen,
I saw your post and had to respond. I’m here in France just beginning my year to learn French. Today we had our first session at Institut de Francais in Villefranche Sur Mer – an absolutely perfect place to learn French.
Anyway, I’m a B&B owner with lots of experience buying Mattresses.
My guests always comment how comfortable my beds are. I use pocket coil mattresses, with wooden slats – the way Europeans have done for ages. It took me a while to believe you could actually do without a box spring – but hundreds of guests concur. The secret though is to purchase the top of the line pocket coil mattress. I swear your husband could perform calisthenics and you wouldn’t wake up – unless you wanted to…
whoops – forgot to say I use Ikea – they’re way less expensive – but they must be pocket coil.
Herm: I love your puns: “lay-away plan” and “embedded humor” hit me just right on a rainy day near Chicago.
Joan L.
Chere Kristin,THANK YOU for another wonderful post dealing with a subject we all can relate to! Though our bones are definitely older than yours (!)we were having really annoying back pain,and,for some reason,never connected to the possibility that it might be mattress related.When we once ‘saw the light'(!) and purchased a new set,WOW! Viola! Every morning is a good one! Bon journee!
Kristin,
While we were in France this last time, we stayed in a B & B and the suite was just lovely but the mattress sunk so much in the middle, that we took the quilts from the extra day bed and put them in the sagging parts of the mattress and were able to get a good nights sleep.
My mother is on her 2nd new mattress and she says that it is alive and pushes her feet out of the bed and that there is a wall in the middle of the mattress.
I love our mattress – not too hard and not too soft – just right.
slowly catching up – still a few past newsletters to read … but will stop here first for a few comments
Kristin, I enjoyed the words and humour, but I don’t envy your “sommier” and “matelas”… I am rather intrigued by “le surmatelas” translated by ‘pillow’ top (???) Isn’t it supposed to be a soft and comfortable layer of material, a couple of cms thick, quilted,(unless it’s sheepskin) and placed between the MATTRESS and the bottom sheet, covering the top of the “matelas” (so why ‘pillow’ top?)
I would think if you had one of those French “surmatelas”, you wouldn’t feel so badly the ‘coins’ / ‘buttons’ of your mattress!… but it wouldn’t really solve the problems of your sagging mattress and ‘flings’…
Why is it common practise with babies and young children to cover their mattress with “une alaise” / also spelt “alèse”? simply because it is “imperméable’ (= WATERPROOF). Here in England, “une alaise” is called a ‘waterproof mattress protector’ or a ‘waterproof undersheet’ – in hospital, there is always one of those ‘vinyl sheets’ to cover all their mattresses)
At home, we cover our mattress with a quilted ‘mattress cover’ (thinner than a French “surmatelas”). It is easy to wash. Ours is elasticated all around, like a fitted sheet, but you can get one that covers the whole mattress – zipped all around 3 sides of it.
Then comes “le drap de dessous” (= the ‘bottom sheet’). If elasticated all around, it is “un drap housse” (= ‘a fitted sheet’). Do you have “un drap du dessus” (a top sheet) plus blankets? or just “une couette”?
We have a light, warm and fluffy ‘quilt’, commonly called a ‘duvet’ (NOT the same as what the French call “un duvet” which is a ‘sleeping bag’ for camping!). Its cover (“la housse”) replaces a top sheet. In winter, we velcro a warmer quilt to the summer one, in order to get a total warmth of 15 togs.
As I seem to be making the bed, I’ll carry on and add “un couvre-lit / dessus de lit” (= ‘bedcover / bedspread’) which goes over the quilt and falls down nicely all around the sides of the bed. We keep it partly folded when we’re in bed. Nicely arranged over the bed in daytime, it adds neatness and homely charm to the ‘bed scene’.
Kristin, it’s time to say goodbye to a mattress when your back is already aching first thing in the morning and your nights are becoming uncomfortable with the inevitable ups and downs you so well described.
Bill, thanks for the exciting news!
Sab, thanks for your positive words and Gail, for the examples.
Newforest, missed you last week and was beginning to be concerned…. and now things are light and springy, now that you are back–and with so many interesting terms. Thank you! I can no longer complain about my mattress after reading Kathleen’s account of stuffing her B&B matelas with the extra cover! And I am a little leery of buying a new mattress after reading Sheila’s note. Maybe I’d better look into a mattress cover, instead! Then again, Heather’s note helps weigh in on the “time to buy” side 🙂 (and it helps that a new IKEA just appeared not far from us….)
Joan, I too enjoyed Herm’s clever puns.
Natalia, happy for your positive experience and wishing you many bonne nuits!
Amy, careful with your back. Not sure how heavy a harp is… and good to know you are getting a good night sleep too.
Meredith, what a picture you paint. Thanks! Also, I find the back-to-back to be a good solution to the gaping “divide”. Merci encore.
Punch, interesting question. Yes, I have heard of mattress repair, in old times. Didn’t they use that thick striped material, some sort of “toile”. Wasn’t it common to reappolster (sp?) a mattress — to prolong its life? Also, remember the thistle plant … wild teasel?… it too was used, if I remember correctly to “carder” (French word for teasel is “cardère”) or comb the mattress.