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Meantime, Kristi says: I know I'm becoming French because….
I'm writing for two French magazines! France Today and, now, French Provincial–Australia's #1 magazine for French style and culture!
Thrilled to be joining the editorial team at French Provincial. This magazine, once only found in stores in Australie, is now available to all of us via digital subscription! You can buy any issue. (To see my back page column, select the issue pictured here :-)
TODAY'S WORD
éternuer (ay-tehr-noo-ay)
: to sneeze, or expirer bruyamment (breathe out loudly)
AUDIO FILE
One way you know you're becoming French is when you answer "à vos souhaits" after somebody sneezes. (Listen to Jean-Marc read the example sentence): Download MP3 or Wav file
Eternuer. Atchoum! Quand on éternue en France, on dit: "A vos souhaits" ou "à tes souhaits."
To sneeze. Achoo! When someone sneezes in France, we say: "Bless you."
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE… by Kristin Espinasse
After telling you to complete the sentence, "You know you are becoming French when (fill in blank)," I began to worry that some of you might not know how to answer.
"But I've never been to France," you might say. "How can I be sure I'm becoming French when I've not been exposed to all the French culture that I'm dying to be exposed to!!
Never Fear! Pas de souci! I've been digging through my photo archives to come up with pictures to jog your mind. Do any of today's photos sing to you?
Here are those pictures, along with possible ways you may be becoming French and not even know it!
1) (Observe photo at opening of this edition: You know you're becoming French when you buy baguettes (even frozen ones) at every chance.
You know you are becoming French when…
2) The sight of French penmanship makes your heart do backflips: flip, flip, flip, flippity-dip!
3) You're an olive eater. Sure, the Greeks are olive eaters too, but you are a French olive eater! (Think little niçoise olives…)
4) You love bleu things, bis things, and boot things (or sabots like that yellow one, with the flowers in it).
To sidetrack a bit, and because you are hungry to learn all things French–I just know you are wondering about significance of "bis" when you see the little word written beside a house number. Well, let me tell you, after 21 years in France I learned this most significant detail last week…. when trying to find Beth and Guillermo's house.
"By the way," Beth had said in a second email, "I live at 9 rue (bla bla bla)."
But when Jean-Marc and I turned up at number 9, and a grand-mère opened the door in her little apron or tablier–a whoosh of pot-au-feu vapors streaming out beside her, I knew we were not chez Beth and Guillermo (who'd promised to make TAGINE!).
"Are you sure your friends aren't at 9 bis?" Grand-mère said….
Turns out they were! And the first thing I said to Beth after kissing her on both cheeks is: YOU ARE at 9 A! Not "9". NINE A!
So, dear readers, let's remember this one together, once and for all:
Bis = "A" when referring to a house number. The photo above, therefore, reads "65 A"
5) You know you are becoming French when you are territorial….
The sign at the bus stop reads: "Chaise à laisser sur place. SVP. Merci" (Don't touch this chair, please. It belongs here. Thanks!")
2007. Cooking for our first harvesters, back at Domaine Rouge-Bleu….
6) You know you are becoming French when your kitchen has little French touches here and there and everywhere
COMMENTS HERE
YOUR TURN! Tell us one way in which you know you're becoming French. Click here and enter to win the book just below.
Thanks go out to these sponsors:
Provence Dreamin'? Maison des Pelerins, Sablet. A Vacation Rental Dream in the heart of the Côte du Rhone.
Provence & French Alps Tours – Two regions of France in one affordable tour. Majestic mountains, Provence colors. Wine tastings, Michelin Star cuisine.
One more way you are becoming French: you love ferronnerie d'art or ironwork of art. Here, in our shopping section, is a cozy kissing bench for the garden. It is also a wonderful conversation piece. I'm looking for one of these in France, meantime, for US readers, you can get one at Amazon!
WINNER UPDATE
Félicitations to Cynthia Lewis who has won the copy of this charming book.
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One way I know I’m becoming French is that I own Lycra and wear it to cycle the backroads of France.
I dream in French.
I decorate with my French wine corks! I oten spontaneously speak French to an American without realizing it! I have Annie Sloan’s book about decorating with chalk paint to have the French look.
I added an accent to my name (Renée).
I follow people in the mall, on the street, on a beach when I think I hear French being spoken, and get as close as I can to listen to them.
I know I’m becoming French because I now understand native French speakers speaking French better than etrangers speaking French!
When asked what I can see, the first answer to come to mind is ‘Que dalle!’ – nothing at all.
Je pense en Francais!
In America, some French words overtake our American ones–receit, resto, ordo, frigo, veto, peripherique!
I live in Texas, so many people start a conversation in Spanish. Without realizing it, I respond in French. It’s my default foreign language.
When you start counting with your thumb first and when you tell time in military time.
I know I becoming more French because I find American quantities of food degoutant.
When I walked 10 blocks in a steady rain on my birthday to have an almonde croissant and a cafe au lait for breakfast with my wife under an awning outside a small cafe in Paris.
I know I am becoming French as “Bien sur” comes out of my mouth without even thinking. Also, I just returned from France January 4th & thought I had my fix but was missing it within two weeks!
When you’re in a conversation in English, and the only word that says what you want to say is a French one.
Je devenir francais. Je sais parce que présent chaque jour est le jour férié jour entre midi a quatorze heure demi. Et un oublier le travail le Lundi aussi! C’est tres important pour le sante je pense!
I am becoming French. I know this because now every day is a holiday between noon and 2.30pm! And forget working on Mondays also! Its very important for the health I think!
I know I am becoming more French as I pay more and more attention to the food I make, the quality of the ingredients I use and how much I serve. Also, wine has become much more important.
I enjoy it when I find that I am referring to things in French rather than English…I love that! And you,
dear Kristin, have certainly played a role as I turn more and more toward my inner frenchness. Thank you!
My Facebook news feed contains more items in French than in English.
I know I’m becoming French because I look at 2CV used car ads and consider buying one.
I know I’m becoming more French because I take my darling dog everywhere and am upset to think she cannot enter certain shops with me.
My English is peppered with French words, such as voila! and merci! My friends look at me strangely…
I know I’m becoming French because we are woken up each morning to France Musique & we have a Boite aux Lettres in the style of an original Parisien one.
Hi Kristin!
I know I’m becoming French because I love blue shutters, little stone cabanons, lavender, sunflowers against a bright blue sky, lace curtains, window boxes, FWAD and the lovely French language!
I know I am becoming French when I stand in front of the Paris flower shops taking photos to paint. And when I long for another trip to France each day. And when I label France as my favorite place to visit. And when I think of the scrumptious croissants that no one in America can duplicate!
..because I “get dressed” to take the trash out!
Hi Kristin, I never miss your posts it helps to feel French as well as wearing all sorts of scarves knotted in different styles and a drop of Chance Chanel eau tendre. On a good hair day it’s all it takes and a bit of imagination and voila!
Thank you and a heartfelt congratulations on joining an editorial team at French Provincial.
For me, it’s inserting a French word into a conversation I’m having with someone without realizing it!
Regarding “à vos souhaits”: I learned at a language school in Tours that if someone sneezes a second time in a row, you say “à vos amours” and if the person sneezes a third time, you say “qu’ils durent toujours”.
I eat salad after the main course and drink wine in a water glass…
I knew I was becoming French when I visited Paris last May and realized that when I spoke French there, my voice had that delicate lilt of emphasis that I so longed to acquire in my high school years long ago. It also helped a lot that I stayed with a French family too 😉
I know I’m becoming French because I patiently explain to the cashier at Panera Bread that I don’t want my baguette to go. The conversation continues, “No, please, don’t cut it and toast it. Yes, a whole baguette. Please just give me a knife and some butter and jam. Yes, I’m eating it here with my coffee. No, it is not ‘to go.’ Thank you very much. No, not just a piece of baguette. The whole baguette. Yes, thank you!” Ah ces Américains!
I know I’m becoming French because I no longer even think of using bottled salad dressing and will travel 10 miles and spend $6 for a little jar of Amora mustard, fine et forte, to put in my homemade vinaigrette!
When I see a dog in a restaurant, and smile.
Coucou! I know I am becoming French because I often write a word with French spelling and have to stop and think of the correct English spelling.
I know I’m becoming French because my written ‘ones’ look like inverted ‘Vs’.
When it’s movie night so I pick up a baguette and some Brie for the snacks and totally forget about popcorn!
I know I’m becoming French because I inevitably feel sincerely puzzled, for the first minute, over the American restaurant use of the word entrée.
I know I’m becoming more French because: 1) I end my emails to friends with “Mes amities”; 2) I use sugar cubes, rather than granulated sugar, in my morning cafe; and 3) I feel ecstatic when I find a piece of Quimper pottery at an antique store or flea market.
I know I’m becoming French because I bought a three foot high replica of the Eiffel Tower for my office.
I brave the Chicago elements and walk to Patisserie Coralie. Tres bon~ http://www.creperiestgermain.com/bestfrenchpastries/index.html
My friends certainly think so, as almost every day when something french is in the news or a joke, a travel idea, etc., always shows up in my inbox. Also, so many similarities listed above that it’s scary- especially the one about keeping a ear open for opportunities to speak french. Trying to learn the language- it is amazing how much history & culture seeps in along with it. What a bonus!
Je sais que je deviens francais parce que je lis Mediapart chaque journee!!
My grandmother who raised me, as my father died when I was 6 and my Mom had to go work never spoke a word of English to me (I was 36 when she died).
Have always felt the strength of my French side!!
I could identify with so many of these comments!
My heart races when I see the blue-grey of French shutters and doors.
I used a match from my old allumettes box to light the stove and make a big bowl of cafe au lait this morning.
On my last visit to Paris, 2 different Parisiennes asked me for directions(which made my day).
I talk more about what I love to eat than what I avoid.
I am not lost when I have free time.
I get enough sleep.
I like to think seasonally, moderately, sanely.
I remember being wet and cold and jet-lagged and tired, walking around in Paris before I found a place to stay, and thinking I was the luckiest person in the world!
I know I am becoming French because I am obsessed with owning a pale blue Citroen 2cv!
I knew I was becoming French when I asked friends for apperos.
I know I have become totally French when, leaving a store, I pull the door instead of pushing it !
Parce que je parle francais avec mes chats…et ils me comprennent aussi bien que quand je leur parle en anglais!
I know I’m becoming french when I opened my store, Equipement de Vin, take my dog to work in the store, use french instead of English words daily, sante, enchante, tchao, de rien, I covet my Provencal linens, my Laguiole & Opinel knives and my La Rochere glassware inventory, I have a file that I keep all of my French customers (whether french or american) suggestions for my next french trip, to the rhone, my new favorite wine is bandol.
I know that I’m becoming French when I head for the cookbook section in a book store and then single out the books with the FRENCH recipes only or those written by FRENCH chefs…ah, to make the perfect soupe a l’oignon or bouillabaisse or coq au vin all the time sounding like Julia Child!
I know I’m becoming French when Canadian franglais hurts my ears, when not just any camembert will do, when I have to have Maille dijon mustard, when driving extra miles for a close to real baguette is no big deal, and of course, as someone mentioned, the true sign is when I dream in French.