TODAY'S WORD : resserrer
: to close, to tighten, to strengthen
resserrer les cordons de la bourse = to spend less, to tighten the purse strings
Hear it. Click here to listen to Jean-Marc read the following French sentence
Notre ville resserre les cordons de la bourse.
Our town is tightening its purse strings.
Easy French is a bestseller, recommended by readers. Order a copy.
And in today's story, more about Frexit and why the French–and man's best friend–will be well-coiffed by the time France leaves the EU.
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE
Will France leave the EU? It's a question many of us are asking. George Soros predicted it will happen. Frexit or no Frexit, the current economy has forced some French commerçants to come up with creative ways to keep their doors open and not shuttered and padlocked. But when the pet groomer went bankrupt and our local hair salon began catering to dogs–tongues started wagging!
Not everyone was happy about sharing shears with a sheepdog or having their hair highlighted beside a hound….
Because our family is dog friendly (we’ve shared our lives with two golden retrievers), we were not bothered by this unique–if not exactly cut-and-dry– arrangement at our hair-cutter's. Just this morning, as I sat with a head full of tinfoil (a technique used to lighten one’s locks), the clients to my right, a couple of Hungarian Pulis, began scratching.
"It’s the curl relaxer,” my hairdresser explained. “Time to rinse!”
I watched as the Rasta dogs trotted over to the sink, and jumped up onto the chair beside it—that's when the white-haired woman in the next seat grumbled.
“This is a salon – not a toiletteur!
“Calme-toi, Maman,” the hairdresser said, “times have changed since you ran the business. We now live in an equal opportunity society."
The hairdresser reasoned with her elderly mother: “You think you’re shocked about our furry clients. Think how upset she must have been (my hairdresser paused from lathering her mother's white hair) "…arriving in France where men and women share the public restrooms!"
I was amazed my hairdresser had read my story in our town's gazette, in a section in the back which profiles locals. Last week I wrote about the culture shock I'd gone through when moving to France. I shared the first time I walked into a unisex restroom–right past a classmate at a urinoir! This was in Lille, France, at a high school which had just welcomed our exchange program from Tempe, Arizona.)
So this is what it must feel like for my hairdresser's mother, a traditional French woman, to share her comb with a canine. I offered a sympathetic look and shared some advice that helped me all those years ago, back at the open urinal. “Il faut simplement fermer les yeux!” Just close your eyes!
And what was our surprise when every furry client in the shop closed theirs.
As our village doyens and our village dogs learn mutual tolerance at our new and controversial "Salon Mixte," I will close this edition by sharing three facts: this was posted at midnight here in France, on est le premier avril, et c'est un poisson d'avril. Do not be fooled if you click here again.
un commerçant = store keeper
toiletteur pour chien = dog groomer
une tondeuse à cheveux = hair clipper, hair cutter, trimmer
calme-toi = calm down
un urinoir = urinal
un teckel à poil dur = a wire-haired dachshund
la maîtresse = mistress
une blague = joke
c'est un poisson d'avril = it's an April Fools' joke
on est le premier avril = it's April Fools' Day
chez le coiffeur = at the hairdresser's
Last year's post made some readers angry enough to sign off!. The year before, and in 2013, readers simply felt sorry for me and my strange penance at the Paris Catacombs! (pictured: a rare chance I had to write in Paris, when my daughter had an internship there in 2015.)
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I have to confess I completely fell for that one!!!
Blague or no, this seemed perfectly raisonable to me. Pourquoi no? Thanks for the smile, Kristy.
Love the joke but also think it’s kind of a great idea.
Ah… I’m experiencing deja vu! 😉
Hah, it’s still March 31 here (in northern California), so I was clueless till the end!
Ha! You got me – since it is still 31 March here in Florida, and I wasn’t prepared for your shenanigans! Delightful read!
I am so gullible. Tant pis. Joyeux premier avril!
Hahaha! Liar, liar, pants on fire!
I, too, remember the surprise when encountering the shared facilities in France as a college student. It’s actually not a problem, just a bit disconcerting when one is unfamiliar.
I was a believer until the “curl relaxer” came into play!! Néanmoins, c’est une bonne blague!!
Bien joué!
Our dear Kristi,
This had me going strong,composing in my mind all sorts of encouraging replies(including close your eyes!),till the very end when I realized your gifted writing had me completely fooled!
Oh,Kristi!This is one of your BEST!
Thank you for these terrific laughs!
Love
Natalia. Xo
Ha! I fell for it hook line and sinker! Well done Kristin!
I fell for it, too!!! Well done, Kristi.
I was completely taken in for the entire story. I still think it could be true. Thanks for some great smiles. Wonderful post.
Not much surprises me in France, so, yes, you got me!
Oh Kristi, you got me! It’s not April 1st yet here in California and I wasn’t thinking about pranks yet!
I LOVE this…as Bill would say, Dogs are the BEST people..and it would now have bothered him at all..don’t think it would bother me, either. Good luck with keeping all happy!
I felt it was a great story, and one that made me want to move to France. Please, do bring dogs to your salons!
Ha ha ha !!! Tu m’as eu !!! Bravo Kristi !
I’m shocked that you got me as I’ve been preparing to “get” my family all week (plus some friends) ! I can’t believe you got me ! I was so worried about you guys over there !!!!
Bravo! Like most of your readers, you got me!! Excellent. I was totally preparing myself for the next trip to France -to getting my hair done along side dogs! Darling photos! BTW I received my French knit ‘market’ bag. I got it in green and I love it!!
Wonderful! You totally hooked me in! Since it’s still March in Georgia I just wasn’t thinking ahead to April 1st!
The joke’s on me! Ah, but tomorrow . . .
I never thought about April Fool’s! You got me good and proper!!
I’d love to have dogs allowed and accommodated in the hair salon, but unfortunately it is illegal in my state and most if not all other U.S. states. Since dogs are four-legged, it would not be effective to shampoo and groom them while they are sitting in chaises or chairs, though, and hairdressers would have to have special training to become qualified to groom dogs. Nonetheless, you got me with this April Fool’s joke, although I did start wondering when you wrote about the curl relaxer for the Hungarian Pulis’ pride and joy! Well done, and thank you for the heads up that tomorrow is that special day here! And bravo to France for allowing dogs to share their humans’ lives more than they can in the U.S.
ROFL! HaHa! Poisson d’Avril, Kristi! Good one!
I admit that I realized it was a joke at the bottom of the first paragraph. I read a little further and then scrolled down to look at the date. Ah, bien sûr- un poisson d’avril!
Tu m’as eu Kristi! After all, the French bring their dogs to restaurants! Excellent poisson d’avril!
I don’t believe it’s a joke at all!
I believe your telling the story and then saying it’s a joke is an attempt to fool us!
In a country where dogs eat at the finest restos, are you sure this sharing of beauty salons and barber shops doesn’t take place?!
Oooh! You got me!
Happy April Fool’s Day! (even tho it is still March 31 in Maryland)
How funny! Well done. I was thinking this was even extreme for the French who seem to consider their dogs ‘equals’, but I did fall for this.
Truly well done!! Me that is!! What fun!! Thank you Kristin!!
Vous m’avez eu!! 😊🇫🇷💈🐕Merci, j’ai eu besoin de rigoler! 😘
You got me too. Given all the dogs in restaurants, it sounded not too outrageous….
Vous êtes un maitre a dire d’histoire! This was the best one yet and I was hooked! I thought “Why not?” A couple of years ago while on vacation n Costa Rica my niece had to take her two year old to the clinique in the nearest village for stitches. And the doc was a MD, but was also the local vet….as was noticed by a dog in the waiting room and a few dog hairs on his coat…..so, one never knows.
Yes, time to get on to some fiction….start with a couple of short stories….you really are good.
How do you say gullible?
How do you say hook, line, & sinker?
You got me until the very, very end.
How embarrassing!
‘How could he not ration the shampoo better?’, I thought partway through.
You’re GOOD!
Cherie you got me! I kept trying to imagine my French hairdresser in Grenoble cutting de cheveux de chiens. Très drôle !
I fell for it!! Even had to back and reread a bit…”Wait…what?!” Hahahaha
Tu m’as EU! Encore une fois!!! Didn’t even see that coming. Good one!
Yes, it is still March 31 in North. Calif. so I fell for it, too. Good one!! Here in the East Bay near SF we have so much diversity of all sorts and dogs are so in favor right now, that I was not at all surprised by a “salon” (or barber shop) for humans and dogs! Will cats be next? They don’t sit still enough. Thanks for a good laugh!
I loved every word, and picked up only the merest trace of scepticism with “sharing the shears”. Well, we do have Cat Cafés in almost every city in Canada now, so … What grand fun this was to read, and I love all the clever photos providing hard evidence! MERCI for the chuckles, and for fooling me so adeptly with your wit!
HA HA HA Got me!!!
Having followed FWAD for many years, I have to say I was eagerly anticipating this! So- the moment the email showed up in my inbox, I was excited to read it and see what you had up your sleeve to fool your readers this April 1. So happy you didn’t disappoint! Very creative and thoroughly enjoyable! What a fun idea it’d be to share chairs & shears with canine clients being coifed! Maybe one day, eh? You outdid yourself, Kristi! Bravo!
Haha! You got me!
Chapeau, madame.
GOOD ONE HONEY!!
I fell for it too! What a delightful way to start the day! I laughed out loud when I read the last line. Well done, Kristi! Very creative!
I believed it! I’ve seen photos of Picasso smiling at several dinner tables with his sweet little doggie in a chair beside him. It’s a French thing to love your doggies, isn’t it? Thanks for the giggle! Eileen XO
You are too funny! I fell hook, line and sinker! Happy April Fool’s Day, Kristin! : )
Brilliant!! You got me until about half way through. Loved it! Xx
Lol! I was a little befuddled by the part about using up all the shampoo on the dogs but continued to read gullibly to the end. You never disappoint, Kristi!
Beaucoup fire, Kristi
Merci et bon poisson d’avril.
Ronni