Emily in France 🇫🇷 We're "Deconfining"
Lockdown has ended.
There are tons of false friends that are frustrating to anyone learning French, things like "travailler," which means, not to travel, but to work, or "joli" which means pretty, not jolly. But even more frustrating are words borrowed from English that mean nothing like what they mean in the original language.
As a young person working in French media, I encountered this all the time: French coworkers would note that they were "K.O." or tell me they could do something, "finger-in-the-nose," and then look at me when I was crazy because I couldn't understand what on earth they were talking about.
But even more than the humor in these phrases, many tell a visitor to France about the French perception of themselves. Whereas in English, we have phrases like French kiss, French cuffs, or French toast, in France, French people will often mention "la French touch," defined as a positive – and uniquely French – characteristic that embellishes something for the better.
This isn't the only way in which being bilingual is odd... especially these days. As I continue to report on the effect of COVID-19 on Paris restaurants, I find myself wanting to use the words we do in French – or, at least, their close cognates in English. How was I to know that in the U.S., we don't talk about "confinement" and "deconfinement," but "shelter in place" and "the end of lockdown"?
Yes, official lockdown has ended, but Prime Minister Edouard Philippe assures us that things will not look "normal" for a long time. I walked over an hour to pick up a parcel of books from the American Library, pre-ordered and passed to me with gloved hands. That said, the sun is out, and I have ample reading material, and I am healthy. I can be grateful, at least, for that.
What I'm Writing
1. I wanted to like The Color Purple more than I did... and I wrote about why on my blog.
2. While you may not be traveling to Paris quite yet, I rounded up ten things you need to know when you do for My French Country Home Magazine.
3. One of Italy's most beloved pasta dishes has just three ingredients. I delved into the history of cacio e pepe for the BBC.
What I'm Reading
1. A storm has revealed a legendary Welsh Atlantis. Read more in the BBC.
2. One of my favorite used bookstores is shuttering for good.
3. Stonehenge is streaming the summer solstice online for the first time ever.
4. Bikers were fined for traveling 200 miles to buy chips.
5. This Twitter feed follows the adventures of precocious Emerson and really should be an ad for the U.S. postal service.
Stay safe, stay INSIDE, and à bientôt !