playing hooky....

The writer is off on a toot to Paris - and the artist has found sunshine in the garden. We'll be back next week. A bien tot. S and T

Friday's Petite Aquarelle Dordogne Region, France

Rosy Sky 12" x 16" 
 $120 including shipping 
 available at www.tomviethsketches.com

Let's Talk About Swear Words

This week’s blog is about language, so let’s talk about swear words!

In books from a more genteel era (BR—Before Rap) authors would illustrate a character’s anger thusly: “He (never she) said a four-letter word.”  Incredibly, French authors from the times BR were of a like gentility: “He (never She) said the five-letter word.”   Because merde means sh*t in French, and m***e is the word that should never be said in polite company.

With apologies to our host nation, the French are very uncreative in their swearing.  One word pretty much covers everything that m***e can’t: putain  (“whore”).

To illustrate my point, this is what an Americain film looks like with French subtitles.  You’ll see that the French are missing out on some linguistically gymnastic turns of phrase:

Anger is bad.  So we use many substitutions to help us curb our use of swear words:

Here are some helpful visual aids to help one duck under someone else’s angry swear words.

In all cultures, swear words tend to relate to subjects that are taboo or that are best practiced in privacy.  Here’s a remarkable fact: In Quebec, where they speak a funny form of French, the worst things you can say involve the sacrosanct Church.  The very worst thing you can say to someone is to call him a communion host.  Those crazy canucks sure are cute, aren’t they?

Thank you 'New Yorker'

There is nothing for making a word stick in your head like stumbling upon one in a sentence and knowing, just by the sight of it, that you just have to have that word! It’s a word that rolls around your mouth and tickles your brain.

Here’s one for you - goupillon /goop ee yon/. 

Now does that look french? Everything about it looks like a child’s made up word. Or maybe that is just so to english speaking ears that grew up with the words gooey and goopy.

So I grabbed my handy dandy Robert Dictionary for ages 8 -11 and had a look. Sure enough there it was. 

1st definition: a metal globe with small holes, mounted on a handle that is used to sprinkle holy water. For the more sophisticated, this is also called an asperges.

2nd definition: a bottle brush.

At first glance this seemed ridiculous. What could possibly be the connection between a holy gesture of sacrament and the act of squooshing out a dirty bottle? But as I shared the new word with Tom I found myself shaking that imaginary bottle brush and saw the little droplets of dishwater flying through the air and.... JesusMaryandJoseph Ah ha! 

Tom was not impressed with my new word. When in the heck would I be talking about bottle brushes or holy water sprinklers. “Honey, while you’re out, be sure to pick up some bottle brushes, and if you run into Father Jean St. Etienne Pierre de Dieu be sure to ask if he can bring his jewel-encrusted sprinkler to Sunday dinner.”

So imagine my delight when I unwrapped that weeks New Yorker and looked at the lively cover. “Tom, Tom, look look there is a goupillon on the cover of The New Yorker!”

ps I promise I did not add that bottle brush to the picture. For the life of me I cannot make any connection to that bottle brush and the scene around it. If you can make that connection please let me know.

pps Dear New Yorker please do not throw me in the hoosegow for using this image...and thank you to the artist as well.

Marie Antoinette said. "Let them eat...."

Please be sure to check out the entire Frozen France cartoons from last Wednesday.

and Friday's Petite Aquarelle

Resting Boat

16" x 12"

$120 including shipping

available at www.tomviethsketches.com