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March 18, 2006
French Vocab: Leap-Frog etc.
Some more new vocabulary for me in recent times:
saute-mouton = leap-frog (only it literally means jump-sheep!)
grenat = garnet red
espiègle = mischievous
une partition = a piece of sheet music
estomaqué = profoundly dismayed (like your stomach's been removed), or stupefied, astonished
Scouring the phone book a few months ago for how to get help with a rodent problem (yes, another one, Sami, only in the garage this time, far better than in the kitchen back in California), I had no success at all. I looked under rodents, pest control, animals...Finally, with some help from a local friend, we found what we were looking for under "traitement" - "treatment." I then learned there was actually a word in French for "getting rid of rats" ("dératisation"). Ugh. Anyway, it worked. We successfully reclaimed and disinfected our garage.
Jason learned a funny new word on his class ski trip back in January. It's what they call a button-tow ski lift (we used to call it a Poma lift): tire-fesse (which literally means "pull-butt"). We just watched the DVD that they made of the whole ski trip. They used the Mission Impossible theme music six times, I think! Got to love it.
March 18, 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
"...actually a word in French for "getting rid of rats" ("dératisation")"
You're making that up! Deratization? That's wonderful! Almost (almost!) makes me wish I had the opportunity (?!) to use it.
Posted by: jeffy | Mar 19, 2006 12:30:14 AM
Too funny. No, I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of the little suckers. We saw a rat in our garage recently, probably due to the tearing down of old warehouses one street over. Don't want 'em around, that's for sure.
Posted by: Sami | Mar 19, 2006 7:07:56 AM
I'm not making it up, Jeffy, truly. I thought it was made-up, too, so I checked in the dictionary. See http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=d%E9ratisation (it has adjectival and verb forms, too!).
Posted by: Katherine | Mar 19, 2006 3:44:01 PM
