{"id":120,"date":"2024-10-21T09:35:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T09:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/?p=120"},"modified":"2024-10-21T09:35:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T09:35:41","slug":"expressions-and-dictums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/expressions-and-dictums\/","title":{"rendered":"Expressions and dictums"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I <\/span>have learnt a number of expressions and sayings in both <\/span>Oc and French from Mme El, like \u2018peto sec\u2019 which she used <\/span>by way of comment on L\u00e9onine\u2019s choleric outbreaks in <\/span>her direction. This was strictly between her and me and in a <\/span>subdued voice. I asked her to explain the meaning to me, but <\/span>she said that such a coarse term didn\u2019t exist in French\u2026 <\/span>\u2018Fleurs sans verdure, je me f\u2026 de ta figure\u2019. Flowers without <\/span>green, f\u2026 your face \u2013 Mme El about flowers in a vase without <\/span>any leafy green, like bare daffodils, etc. She insists that a <\/span>few leaves be added. \u2018Fleur f\u00e2n\u00e9e, coeur aim\u00e9\u2019, the flower is <\/span>withered, but the heart goes on loving.\u2019 <\/span>\u2018Chimefarafoc\u2019, who will make me a fire \u2013 that\u2019s what a cock <\/span>crows in Oc.<\/span>
\u2018A la Sainte Catherine tout plant prend racine\u2019, this was, <\/span>of course, on Saint Catherine\u2019s day, 25 November, when \u2018all <\/span>plants take root\u2019.<\/span>
On 8 June we had \u2018la Saint M\u00e9dard\u2019, Saint Medard\u2019s day : <\/span>\u2018Quand il pleut \u00e0 la saint M\u00e9dard, il pleut quarante jours plus <\/span>tard.\u2019, When it rains on Saint Medard\u2019s day, it will rain for forty <\/span>days after. Fortunately three days later, on Lyn\u2019s birthday, we <\/span>had \u2018Saint Barnab\u00e9\u2019 with the relevant saying according to <\/span>Mme El: \u2018Saint Barnab\u00e9 lui coupe le pied.\u2019, Saint Barnab\u00e9 cuts <\/span>off his, Saint Medard\u2019s foot, and Mme El looking pleased! Not <\/span>so L\u00e9onine who informs me that it is the \u2018grass under his foot\u2019 <\/span>which is cut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mme El a hidden poet? She wrote into her diary something <\/span>about \u2018le vent d\u2019autan\u2019, which then rhymed with subsequent <\/span>\u2018entretemps\u2019.<\/span> She<\/span> noticed<\/span> the<\/span> sound<\/span> effect<\/span> immediately <\/span>and went on writing spontaneously \u2018qui fait des vers sans <\/span>le vouloir, est un imb\u00e9cile sans le savoir\u2019, who makes verses <\/span>unintentionally is an imbecile unknowingly.
\n<\/span>We were talking about her contemporaries in the village <\/span>most of whom are gone. \u2018Ils sont partis\u2019, a helpless hand <\/span>movement, \u2018pour l\u2019Ethiopie\u2019, gone to Ethiopia.<\/span>
\u2018Soun pla partido\u2019, \u2018je suis bien partie\u2019, I\u2019m off to a good start, <\/span>says Mme El ironically, faced as she is with the choices in life <\/span>which are do as she tells you or else\u2026<\/span>
\u2018Cal rigola\u2019, let\u2019s laugh about it all, Mme El\u2019s philosophy of <\/span>life.<\/span>
\u2018Fara so que bergo\u2019, Mme El told me and translated \u2018\u00e7a fera <\/span>ce que \u00e7a voudra\u2019, things will take their course. This was in <\/span>connection with the human being who by its very nature is <\/span>subject to ageing which means that wear includes tear, like it <\/span>or not.<\/span>
\u2018Bas toumba\u2019 \u2013 you\u2019re going to fall, she says to her great-<\/span>grandchildren who are tottering about in the yard.<\/span>
I was holding down a page of her diary and she looked at my <\/span>finger, noticed a little tear in the skin surrounding the nail and <\/span>exclaimed \u2018vous avez des mensonges\u2019 \u2013 you have lies, which is <\/span>the literal translation of a Langue d\u2019Oc expression, the French <\/span>equivalent carrying \u2018envie\u2019, not \u2018mensonge\u2019. I didn\u2019t know this <\/span>expression and must have looked startled at the sensitive issue <\/span>\u2018lie\u2019. She clarified \u2018vous avez menti\u2019, I was still nonplussed, she <\/span>added \u2018pour vous sauver\u2019- in order to save yourself, so be it <\/span>then.<\/span>
Mme El is becoming reckless with apparently diminishing <\/span>faculties, for when writing, her spelling is uncertain at times, <\/span>especially when two different terms sound the same, like \u2018la \/ <\/span>la\u2019 or \u2018c\u2019est \/ sait\u2019,<\/span> a is a<\/span>, apostrophe or not and the same is true <\/span>of the sound of the other example, what\u2019s the difference? She <\/span>will write what\u2019s easiest for her, reading it aloud afterwards <\/span>makes everything perfectly comprehensible. Her language <\/span>has become a mainly oral one. Also she expresses likes and <\/span>dislikes more robustly and never mind this daughter-in-law <\/span>who disapproves, Mme El is unperturbed, I\u2019m pleased to see.<\/span>
I understand from L\u00e9onine \u2018tu lui soutiens le moral\u2019, you give <\/span>her moral support, which was said in a kindly way \u2013 when the <\/span>end was in sight. Mme El also resists the physiotherapists who <\/span>shake their head and don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on.<\/span>
Mme El consistently writes out figures as words, that\u2019s what <\/span>they learned at school and she sticks to it.<\/span>
She unperturbedly records the daily weather in her diary. <\/span>It\u2019s all one to her: \u2018Il fait beau mais gris\u2019 , or \u2018gris mais beau\u2019, <\/span>\u2018beau mais froid\u2019, \u2018beau mais de la pluie\u2019. The weather is fine <\/span>in any case and the rest is included.<\/span>
\u2018Achi que soun pla\u2019, \u2018l\u00e0\u2019, not \u2018ici\u2019, she insisted, \u2018je suis bien\u2019 <\/span>\u2013 \u2018there\/ here I am fine \u2018gasto-salso\u2019, \u2018g\u00e2te-sauce\u2019, spoil the <\/span>sauce, she said, I had just thrown out at her request some of <\/span>the excessive, to my mind, amount of water she must drink <\/span>every day.<\/span>
Mme El put again a question she had already asked me <\/span>and I explained again. She interrupted me saying that \u2018vous <\/span>ressemblez \u00e0 un cur\u00e9\u2019, you resemble a vicar. I wondered what <\/span>she meant and she \u2018vous pr\u00eachez\u2019, you are preaching. I said <\/span>this was exactly what my husband accuses me of, and she \u2018je <\/span>me f\u2026 de votre mari, ce n\u2019est pas une reproche!\u2019 \u2013 f\u2026 your <\/span>husband, it\u2019s not a reproach. It put me in a right good mood <\/span>and I told Steve on my return. He laughed at the coincidence <\/span>and strolled off to choir practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have learnt a number of expressions and sayings in both Oc and French from Mme El, like \u2018peto sec\u2019 which she used by way of comment on L\u00e9onine\u2019s choleric outbreaks in her direction. This was strictly between her and me and in a subdued voice. I asked her to explain the meaning to me, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}