Books, articles and poetry by Julia Bloch Frey
This is the first of a series of “Amuse Bouche”– humorous mouthfuls on the perplexities of French language and behavior by a former New Yorker now living in France. Many of these columns were originally …
Even as they dump conventional first names (see Amuse-bouche No. 1), the French remain obsessed with le nom de famille
Camille’s bobo (bourgeois-bohème) parents never got around to getting married. Déclarée (legally recognized) by her father, she bears his surname (not surnom — …
From oysters to eggplants, French is stuffed with food metaphors…
The other night at dinner, Philippe was discussing food. Not surprising. After all, France is a country with four religions and 400 sauces. (The United States, …
The French tend to ridicule all regional accents but their own.by Julia Frey
We are exploring PACA (Provence–Alpes du Sud–Côte d’Azur), our new neighborhood, and I discover that les Provençaux speak French so you can understand them! They …
Taking the Vélib’ for a spin.
Grève générale des métros! It’s the biggest Paris transit strike in 10 years. Perfect time to try out the Vélib’. I’ve never used it before, so I’d better démarrer sur les chapeaux de …
In Survival French, you learn that tu (“you” singular, called the familiar) is used with intimates, and vous (also “you” singular) with people you don’t know well. But whether to tutoyer or vouvoyer is a subtle and subjective game, and for an English …
As Anne and Sylvie arrive for dinner, Auguste, recovering from a bad cold, greets them with exquisite politesse: “Pardonnez-moi si je ne vous baise pas, mais j’ai un rhume” (Forgive me if I don’t f**k you, …
What does un intello do for fun?
Every year, Jean-Pierre and Florence (Jumpy and Flo-Flo to intimates) have a fancy pique-nique for their anniversary. And every year it rains.
Jumpy’s whimsical invitation asks guests to bring totally imaginary dishes like terrine de …
Avoir le béguin is to have a crush, but je t’ai dans la peau (I’ve got you under my skin) has nothing to do with love. That’s lust.
In the United States, we pull petals off daisies: “loves me, …