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.)
Discover more from French Word-A-Day
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Kristi,
I love this fun make-believe story and the great accompanying photos.
Like another person mentioned, you have a talent for these comedy pieces and should write some more.
Have a great day.
All the best,
Nath.
Ha! Ha!Good one Kristin !!
Apropos the unisex loos, I remember my very first visit to France as a child & my Mum’s complete astonishment when she took me to the WC & a gentlemen came out of the cabin bowed & held the door open for her !!
Bonjour Kristi,
Vius m’avez vraiment trompé.
Bien réussi! 👏
Marti Hinman
Palm Coast, Florida
Oh, Funny Friend, I was about to ask you to make an appointment for my return! You got me, once again!
You got me, Kristin. I was even hoping the salon had employed the former owner of the dog grooming establishment. I was totally in with solution to an economic down turn. And we are all hoping Frexit does not happen.
Haha! You totally had me. I fell for it hook, line and sinker, did not know it was un poisson d’avril until you revealed it. Well done!
I must admit you had me going on that wonderful story! And I am not easily fooled! 🙂 Well done, Kristi!! Loved it!
Completely duped here! I’m also scratching my head trying to figure out the trendy new shampoo, baking soda and vinegar. If it is true, please give me the recipe. Here’s hoping that the upcoming votes in France don’t reflect the government problems we are having here. Thanks for the laugh.
Je suis le poisson d’avril!So glad others were duped. I was feeling pretty dumb, especially since I was aware of the date! Maybe it’s the falling snow here in Colorado that has my mind befogged!
Talking of loos – were we? – I remember my horror when, in a Moscow hotel in the 1960s, I was faced with a row of half a dozen loos with no walls or curtains. Luckily I spoke some Russian, confided in the interpreter and the hotel staff found me a single walled in loo in a different part of the hotel. But at the beach in the Leningrad, I was faced with another row. In the UK teacher training college where I taught in the early 1970s my team of a dozen staff shared a loo in a house in the grounds. I never gave it much thought but when my mother visited she was totally shocked and I had to find her an alternative in the main building.
Et moi aussi!
I fell for it but then didn’t realize today was April Fool’s Day…….Having said that…nothing would surprise me about France!!!
Will Marine LaPen win election? Looks like she is enamored with Putin???….Soooooooooscary!,,,,,
I fell for it too AND I think it is a good idea. How much more fun we would have at the salon!
I was completely taken in also Kristi. For two reasons- dogs have status and go nearly everywhere with their owners in France; I have always thought, for example, that French dogs look like quite discerning tourists at popular outdoor sites in France, they are often quite smartly ” dressed” and impeccably groomed-why would “crazy” French not grant them hairdressing privileges also ; the second reason is that I did not know that you had such a naughty sense of humour! You look so innocent in your photos!
I have trouble with shared public toilets also.
April Fools! What a great (and adorable) blague! 🙂
You got me this time, although the relaxer for the Puli’s was suspicious. This post was lots of fun.
Ahhhhh….you got me again this year! We were camping or should I say “glamping” this weekend and didn’t read your post until today! Thanks for the fun! Hope all is well with you and your family!
Wow, you got me! Lock, stock and barrel!!! I really fell for it and it did’t help that I read it on April 2nd! Very clever story!!!
Got me completely to end too! In fact, a portion of it reminded me of one of my bathroom experiences in Europe. I was hiking in the Austrian highlands outside of Vienna, Austria. During the trek, I had a nature call and entered a small restroom facility in the woods. Upon entry, I saw a women in a uniform standing against a wall between two urinals. At first I thought I was in the wrong gender bathroom. However, I quickly realized that she must be an attendant in that facility. Being somewhat presse’, I walked to one of the urinals and completed my nature call facing the wall with her right beside me facing away from the wall. Neither of us exchanged greetings or even acknowledged the other. However, it was an encounter that I will never forget! Thanks for the laugh I got from your tale (tails??). Hopefully, mine allowed you pause (paws??) for laughter too!! Regards, Bill
You got me!! haha 🙂 love it!
On 1 Avril, I remembered that one year we were in France and saw the “Poisson d’Avril”. But I am just now (3 Avril) reading the joke and was completely fooled. Thanks for the laughs.
You had me ’til the end. If my dogs need bathing, I’ll just take ’em into the shower with me, so maybe that’s why it didn’t seem too outlandish.Anyway, good one!
Bien, bien dit… Our local newspaper often has a “poisson d’avril,” but in this day and age where truth seems stranger than fiction, the news all seems pretty bizarre on April 1st, if you’re looking for bizarre…(or any other date for that matter).
This was such a great story! You got me and I loved it! I’m even a little disappointed that this isn’t true! Very clever – reminds me of a story several years ago about Oregon enacting a law that required that animals in cars be secured in seat belts. I was wondering how they were going to regulate that when I remembered that it was April 1.
I didn’t read this article until today (April 3), but I think I wouldn’t have gotten the joke even if I had read it on April 1. It was soooo good! You are a delight!
Thanks for the story and the laugh.
Hi Kristi
Totally had! I thought it was a great idea to use curl relaxer and vinegar and baking soda shampoo. And a really good idea to share with our furry friends.
Here in NZ a newspaper listed a job vacancy for penguin walkers, to help penguins at a bird hospital who were so well cared for they were becoming overweight. 200,000 people applied, not realising it was an April Fool’s advertisement.
I love your jokes!
Charlotte
Ever since your award winning story about your penance in the catacombs I have looked forward to your letter on April 1. You are so creative and convincing. I absolutely love reading what you have come up with each year when this date rolls around. I didn’t get to read this until April 4 so you had me going until I realized it must be your annual April fools story. Great job, Kristin.