December 2004

La bise

December 17, 2004

This funny post by petite anglaise reminded me that after my jaunt in Dunkirk, I wanted to write a post on the delicate subject of kissing. The two-year project I've been part of as an interpreter is coming to an...

Libraries online

December 14, 2004

The libraries of five of the world's most important academic institutions are to be digitised by Google "The goal of the project is to unlock the wealth of information that is offline and bring it online," said Susan Wojcicki, director...

Dude

December 13, 2004

Thanks to Caroline for sending me this CNN article on dude. Extract below: An admitted dude-user during his college years, Scott Kiesling said the four-letter word has many uses: in greetings ("What's up, dude?"); as an exclamation ("Whoa, Dude!"); commiseration...

Do you speak Frenglish?

December 10, 2004

I'm back. I promised you anecdotes, so here are a couple of incidents, which are quite revealing of a well-publicised phenomenon: the invasion of English words into French. Coordinator: "Please write your ideas on the flip-chart." Céline: "Veuillez noter vos...

Links links links

December 7, 2004

A few links provided by readers (thanks Laura, Stéphanie and Kevin): A la française forum, to talk about the French language and everything French. A Europe 1 program by Pascale Lafitte-Certa about language, every Saturday from 6pm to 7pm (French...

The writing is on the wall

December 6, 2004

I came across the expression the writing is on the wall in a translation about the environment explaining that climate change and all its horrid consequences are inevitable. I immediately thought of the translation: C'est écrit (It is written, and...

The top 10 words of 2004

December 2, 2004

Merriam-Webster has compiled a list of the most researched words on its Web sites, and this is the result: 1. blog 2. incumbent 3. electoral 4. insurgent 5. hurricane 6. cicada 7. peloton 8. partisan 9. sovereignty 10. defenestration Blog...