Vocabulary Booster

Because it's been a slow news day and not much to report back on...how about a few random bits of French vocabulary? I've been on a real vocab push the past few days--I have been using this website called The Flashcard Exchange which allows you to make your own flashcards online and then test yourself with them--which I would recommend to anybody who has to study something where rapid, brute-force memorization is required.

A few expressions which have English counterparts but are just different enough to be interesting:

-Instead of giving somebody a "helping hand" as we do in English, in French you give somebody a "coup de pouce"...a "push of the thumb." There's even a recent commercial on French TV during which a giant thumb follows somebody around helping them out all day long.

-Instead of "turning over a new leaf," to express heartfelt change in French you say, "Il a fait peau neuve" (He made some new skin). I like this image; it reminds of a snake shedding its skin.

-The French word for "bouncer" (e.g., at a popular night club) is "videur", which literally means "emptier". This is also an improvement on the English word, I think, because you can envision a big burly guy "emptying" a bar of no-good hooligans, but it's difficult to think of him truly "bouncing" them.

That's it for now...time for dinner!