Sunday, 20 May 2007

French kisses

I don't have a particular problem normally with Papillon's posts. They are extremely well written and she uses fairly standard (lovely to my ear) language, though she quite often plays on words. But today she had me floored. For the operation they put a charlotte on her head? I knew what she meant but I couldn't decide whether she was making a joke or whether it was a technical term :) I got there in the end though, but it took some considerable googling. All my usual sources let me down.

It's usually the comments which give me the most difficulty, partly because of the casual language often used and partly because commenters don't normally "compose" their comments and they can be full of typos which can send me off on a wild goose chase.

But what gives me the most difficulty of all are the numerous ways the French kiss you! So far twenty different ways:
  • allez bizzzzz
  • bises
  • bisous
  • biz
  • biz amilcales
  • bizou
  • de grosses bises
  • des bises
  • des bises plein
  • gros bisous
  • gros, énormes bisous
  • je me permets une bise
  • je te fais de gros bises
  • je te fais un gros bizou
  • je t'embrasse
  • je t'embrasse très fort
  • mille baisers à toi
  • tout plein de bisous
  • un énorme bisou
  • une bise sur chaque joue

- all used as signing off a comment, and I can't think of one way of saying it in English without sounding, well, really odd, not to mention repeating myself.

Posted by A. at 16:27
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous20 May 2007 at 22:27

    How about the way Remittance Girl signs off her answers to comments, and sometimes her posts? "Hugs", which is pretty much, I would think, evocative of the sentiment being expressed (loving support) if not a translation or transliteration of the actual words.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lapis Ruber21 May 2007 at 13:59

    I am very envious of your ability to translate so well. The translations always read so fluently and through the words, I can here Papillon's character shine through - that's a real gift.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A.21 May 2007 at 20:18

    janeway, yes, I think I tried hugs once or twice, possibly even in the right place! Just that so many of them say something like that, I would love to be able to offer a bit of variety.

    lapis ruber, you are very kind, and I'm not sure that I deserve it. It takes quite some time, but I've started so I'll finish... I'm so glad you can detect Papillon's character because I think she is great. Little touches of humour here and there. Today she answered a comment of mine with "...my smile remains attached to my lips". I love that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous21 May 2007 at 22:54

    What about "love and kisses"?

    ReplyDelete
  5. TorAa22 May 2007 at 10:52

    Thanks for sharing. Now, I can write several comments, all with different goodbye kisses;)))

    hugs from Oslo

    ReplyDelete

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