One thing I love about studying French is the opportunity to improve my English! Just this morning I learned of another set of words I've been confounding all along.
Thank you, Charles, who responded to my post "Zipper Politics." Charles writes:
You mention journalists having a heyday, but the correct expression is "field day." You were confusing heyday with field day.
Merci encore, Charles! Considering no other readers pointed out the mix-up–except to say I misspelled "hayday" (heyday)–I wonder if anyone else could benefit from the following clarification:
"FIELD DAY"
A field day is the fun a person has at the expense of another's i-m-p-r-o-p-r-i-e-t-y. (Whew! Yet another new term! Keep teaching French and I might finally learn English!)
=>Field day in French is choux gras (literally "fat cabbage." One wonders if there's a correlation between this and "to chew the fat"? Anyway, here is an example sentence for you:
L'affaire Hollande-Gayet fait les choux gras de la presse étrangère. Foreign press is having a heyday field day with the Hollande-Gayet scandale.
"HEYDAY"
Heyday, on the other hand, is the height of someone's success. (You'd think they'd call it a "gold" or "diamond" day–rather than a modest "hay" day. Wait, there I go again–confusing words! That's HEY and not HAY day. But what the hey? (Guess it must stand for Hey! Look at him!)
=>Heyday in French = l'âge d'or, l'apogée de sa gloire. Here's another helpful example for you:
Même à l'apogée de sa gloire, l'acteur le mieux payé de son temps ne se reposait pas sur ses lauriers. Even in his heyday, the actor, who was the highest paid of his time, never rested on his laurels. (from the article Charlie Chaplin et ses nombreux rebondissements. "Charlie Chaplin and his numerous comebacks")
Maybe you're one of the lucky ones and you already knew the difference between heyday and field day. In that case, I hope you learned some French from today's English lesson. I sure did! 🙂
Plane trees: 200 years old. This French journal: 12 years old and growing!
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I look forward to sharing more of France with you–via words, sound clips, photos, recipes and videos. Thank you for supporting these efforts. And thank you for reading this French journal. May you continue to enjoy it, share it, and support it.
Amicalement,
Kristin
P.S. Those photos of the mustard fields–both with yellow and white blossoms–were taken in 2008, near Sainte Cécile-les-Vignes. The last time I saw the old stone cabanon, pictured at the top of this post, someone had attached an entire home to it!–blending the buildings together seamlessly–and giving a new life to an abandoned and forgotten place.
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I think it should be Field day instead of heydey in the example
L’affaire Hollande-Gayet fait les choux gras de la presse étrangère. Foreign press is having a heyday ( should it not be field day) with the Hollande-Gayet scandale.
I think it should be Field day instead of heydey in the example
L’affaire Hollande-Gayet fait les choux gras de la presse étrangère. Foreign press is having a heyday ( should it not be field day) with the Hollande-Gayet scandale.
Hi Kristin,
I love the two photos of the mustard fields! Really beautiful. We have been looking for mustard seeds or plants to fill our empty field. I heard that honey bees love mustard!
I new the difference between “heyday” and “field day” but I guess I knew what you meant in your other post! Have a beautiful day!
Hi Kristin,
I love the two photos of the mustard fields! Really beautiful. We have been looking for mustard seeds or plants to fill our empty field. I heard that honey bees love mustard!
I new the difference between “heyday” and “field day” but I guess I knew what you meant in your other post! Have a beautiful day!
Thank you, Nirjahr! Proof I’m having a really hard time straightening out the two terms….
Thank you, Nirjahr! Proof I’m having a really hard time straightening out the two terms….
Hi Kristin,
I am originally from New England, now living in New York. I have been corrected on my phraseology such as your usage of “heyday” several times in the past few years. It is at most a little embarrassing at age 63, because of have been misusing these phrases all of my life. It also made me realize that the people around me must have been doing the same or were just too polite to say anything! I think the former.
BJ
Hi Kristin,
I am originally from New England, now living in New York. I have been corrected on my phraseology such as your usage of “heyday” several times in the past few years. It is at most a little embarrassing at age 63, because of have been misusing these phrases all of my life. It also made me realize that the people around me must have been doing the same or were just too polite to say anything! I think the former.
BJ
Field Day in many schools is a day of track and field events!
Field Day in many schools is a day of track and field events!
KRISTI DARLING …and the beat goes on…missing you..
Love the second photo, I don’t think I know the name of that tree, couldn’t be plane trees?
Well we all must have made it through the weekend, I’m at the Coffee Cup checking email, still waiting for my computer to be fixed.
I still think you are qualified to teach at the Sorborne (sp?) – everyone would sign up for your class under FRENCH/ENGLISH a DAY. Maybe when Jackie goes to design school in Paris, we could get an apartment and all hang out together. You teach, I’ll paint and Jackie can chase her star in the city of light.
XOXO
MOM
KRISTI DARLING …and the beat goes on…missing you..
Love the second photo, I don’t think I know the name of that tree, couldn’t be plane trees?
Well we all must have made it through the weekend, I’m at the Coffee Cup checking email, still waiting for my computer to be fixed.
I still think you are qualified to teach at the Sorborne (sp?) – everyone would sign up for your class under FRENCH/ENGLISH a DAY. Maybe when Jackie goes to design school in Paris, we could get an apartment and all hang out together. You teach, I’ll paint and Jackie can chase her star in the city of light.
XOXO
MOM
Field day, hey day – now I’m wondering just how I’ve been using these phrases :-). Love the plane trees and mustard field photo. Take me to provence immediately. Do not pass “Go” I just want a “field day” in those fields!!
Field day, hey day – now I’m wondering just how I’ve been using these phrases :-). Love the plane trees and mustard field photo. Take me to provence immediately. Do not pass “Go” I just want a “field day” in those fields!!
Charles is partly correct:
heyday (ˈheɪˌdeɪ)
n[oun]
1. the time of most power, popularity, vigour, etc; prime
[C16: probably based on hey]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Charles is partly correct:
heyday (ˈheɪˌdeɪ)
n[oun]
1. the time of most power, popularity, vigour, etc; prime
[C16: probably based on hey]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Proof of how well you have integrated French: the use of confounding in the second sentence of this post. Without the influence of French on your brain, I think you would’ve said “confusing” here! (to confuse=confondre in French). Another example of the many “faux amis” in French and English. You should pat yourself on the back for having integrated confondre so deeply that you made the kind of error a native French speaker would’ve easily made in writing in English!
Proof of how well you have integrated French: the use of confounding in the second sentence of this post. Without the influence of French on your brain, I think you would’ve said “confusing” here! (to confuse=confondre in French). Another example of the many “faux amis” in French and English. You should pat yourself on the back for having integrated confondre so deeply that you made the kind of error a native French speaker would’ve easily made in writing in English!
Interestingly, if you say “Field day” to someone from US Marine Corps, it means a day spent cleaning absolutely everything. It’s cleanliness to the point of absurdity, from what I hear (I never served, so wouldn’t know from personal experience).
Interestingly, if you say “Field day” to someone from US Marine Corps, it means a day spent cleaning absolutely everything. It’s cleanliness to the point of absurdity, from what I hear (I never served, so wouldn’t know from personal experience).
I missed that one! Field day is so commonly used to describe the press actively going after a story like this.
And yes, very different from heyday, but I never thought to compare the two words before. This should keep me using them both correctly.
Guess the scandal took up all the space in my brain.
I missed that one! Field day is so commonly used to describe the press actively going after a story like this.
And yes, very different from heyday, but I never thought to compare the two words before. This should keep me using them both correctly.
Guess the scandal took up all the space in my brain.