2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

retiredinfrance

Having been introduced to French aged 10 and taught it for 35 years and now a resident, I can add that copain/ copine is used by younger people  , to mean mate, and ami / amie is used by them as well , generally to refer to a closer friend. Copain/ copine is used by all age groups to refer to a romantic partner . There is also a social class distinction. but I’ll leave that for another day!
Of course, different people in different regions, in different contexts might come to different conclusions.- I hope I don’t come across as “preachy”- I’ve been enjoying the posts.

PollyWollyDoodle

Not preachy at all, I love the fact that you can ask a random question on this thread and somebody will have the answer!  

And thank you for the link @Laura_Elsewhere that looks really interesting. 

Laura_Elsewhere

retiredinfrance said:

Having been introduced to French aged 10 and taught it for 35 years and now a resident, I can add that copain/ copine is used by younger people  , to mean mate, and ami / amie is used by them as well , generally to refer to a closer friend. Copain/ copine is used by all age groups to refer to a romantic partner . There is also a social class distinction. but I’ll leave that for another day!
Of course, different people in different regions, in different contexts might come to different conclusions.- I hope I don’t come across as “preachy”- I’ve been enjoying the posts.

Of course, you can't possibly talk about your Special Work living in France and passing as a local, but We Understand *::nods meaningfully::*

It's really useful having so many people who know interesting stuff! I do love this group... 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I always had the impression that it wasn't so much that French has multiple words for the same thing as that our translation lumps things together- like the two words for "to know", connaitre and savoir- they mean different kinds of knowing in French but they are generally translated as the same word in English which confuses everything...! 

I expect it goes both ways: we lump things together in order to understand, which misses subtleties we don't have in English, but I imagine a translation from English to another language may also lose nuances that an English speaker would hear.

I've still not chosen a pattern for my pullover, but I began to investigate all the bags of yarn, fabric and saved clothes that I am one day either going to use as a pattern or reuse the fabric. I have alarmingly much. I admit I shoved it all back in the box room! I've been mending a couple of items a week: usually nothing worth a photo but nonetheless (hopefully) building my skills. I was quite encouraged to fine an old mend that was invisible to me until I examined the garment closely for any further damage.

I think choosing a pattern where I can use up yarn is practically my patriotic duty, don't you?

@Laura_Elsewhere, it must be fascinating to read about someone to whom you have a connection. He sounds like a remarkable man. Extremes bring out extremes, I think. In another era, he might not have stood out nearly so much.

PipneyJane

retiredinfrance said:

Having been introduced to French aged 10 and taught it for 35 years and now a resident, I can add that copain/ copine is used by younger people  , to mean mate, and ami / amie is used by them as well , generally to refer to a closer friend. Copain/ copine is used by all age groups to refer to a romantic partner . There is also a social class distinction. but I’ll leave that for another day!
Of course, different people in different regions, in different contexts might come to different conclusions.- I hope I don’t come across as “preachy”- I’ve been enjoying the posts.

Not preachy at all @retiredinfrance .  I am jealous of your fluency, since French doesn’t come naturally to me, despite 4 years of Duolingo and one decent year of remedial French at school*.  

@Laura_Elsewhere  That book looks very interesting.  I’ve bookmarked it and added it to my wish list of books to read.  With any luck, one of my family members will buy me a copy for my birthday or Christmas.  

On the reading front, I’m currently re-working my way through my complete collection of Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels.  (It’s the first time since the 1990’s that I’ve read them all.).  Prior to this, I read - and abandoned - Agatha Christie’s The Mystery of the Blue Train and, after that, a book called Wartime Housewife by Biff Raven-Hill.  I’m not sure what I was expecting of the latter. It’s not a memoir, it’s a handbook on how to live and includes a large section on etiquette, as well as nearly 50 pages of war-time recipes plus tips on how to mend, etc. I’ll add it to the book shelf in the Hall, in case you fancy a browse.

- Pip




*. Including that year, I studied French for four years at school: two at our local high school - waste of time - and two at the private school to which I’d won a scholarship.  My first French teacher at the latter was so bad, we learned nothing all year. She gave us lists of the vocabulary we’d need to complete the translations in our end of year exam, which is the only reason any of us passed.  No surprise that she wasn’t on the teaching staff the following year.

Cherryfudge

I somehow missed quite a few posts yesterday despite posting myself. @retiredinfrance, it's really helpful to have your insights. Thank you.  

@PipneyJane, I'm another Lord Peter fan, and the Wartime Housewife book looks interesting: is there much 'new' in it? (By which I mean, did you learn anything you felt was significant)?

Laura_Elsewhere

Mr E gave me a set of audiobooks of Ian Carmnichael reading the (completely-unabridged) Dorothy L Sayers books, and they are wonderful... I have wireless earpod things and usually have one in as I bustle about doing housework, and Lord Peter and Bunter and Harriet often accompany me. Also Francis Matthews' (completely-unabridged) reading of nine of the Campion books are a treasure... I hate most audiobooks but these are perfect, for me. 

thriftwizard

Back in the early 70s, our French teacher, Madame Bertaud, had been in La Resistance during the War, in a very minor way, and we could generally get her onto the subject within 3 minutes of the lesson starting - yes, we timed it - and spend the rest of the double 40-minute period with our feet up, just listening to heroic tales, sometimes even in French. Despite the total lack of grammar exercises, conversation practice etc. she was definitely doing something right - I got an "A" grade and most of the rest of the class did too! Just wish I could remember more of her stories now...

retiredinfrance

Thanks for everyone’ positive feedback ( though I hate that word). When we bought our wee French cottage , more than 30 years ago, I chose it because the Demarcation Line  ( La Ligne de Démarcation ) ran right through the village and many of the villagers were delighted to tell me about Wartime life, including the local Resistance. It was so different from UK wartime life. My neighbour was living in the Vichy half  and the village washing well was on the Occupied half and as all the women went to wash there, they tried to hand over messages etc. She would be searched but they never searched her pile of dirty nappies that her baby contributed to the resistance!
@Laura_Elsewhere, when in Secret Work , language can often be a life or death matter.
-Off to check my coupons.

PollyWollyDoodle

Great stories, @retiredinfrance.  

Another Dorothy L Sayers fan here, I have all the Wimsey books (second hand of course) and they fall into the category of books I will read again and again, so they have not been decluttered*. I reread them all during lockdown.  Every so often Radio 4 will have a Lord Peter Wimsey dramatisation, but mostly I prefer to just have the voices in my head. Ian Carmichael was great but my absolute favourite was the BBC production with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter.  

Also love Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham etc but somehow they haven’t stood the test of time quite as well.  

*along with Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, Pamela Frankau, Patrick O’Brian and a select few others.