Storms and chickens

[patsylabrador]

So when do you say Bonsoir? We had a night over last night and were merrily walking around saying Bonsoir but we were aware that people were saying Bonjour back. In Japan you say Konbanwa when the sun sets. Is it the same in France? It wasn't quite dark when we were out strolling about. 

I walked past a couple and the bloke was saying "sais, je sais....." I have wondered if he was saying "Mais je sais" and I misheard but I thought I'd ask the question. What does that mean? I thought it might be a colloquialism I could use. 

We love the farm produce vending machines in France. We totally love the crazy vending machines everywhere in Japan and it was really exciting to see them in France. We bought some cheese which I think is a kind of brie, am I right? 

We saw the moules farms off the beaches and bought frites and watched a fishing boat being unloaded in Boulogne by some rough coves I didn't dare photograph. 

[Ursula123]

Having lived here for two years I have not figured out the Bon soir question, you can be in the supermarket and the checkout person will say Bonsoir to the person in front of you so when it's your turn and you say Bonsoir they reply with bonjour. Our French neighbour says its when its dark but who knows. 

My favourite French saying is ' tomber dans les pommes' nothing to do with apples but means I have fainted.

[mullethunter]

To fall in the apples - I love that! Maybe to do with cider?!

[Cat tails]

We have a dutch word called “appelflauwte” or apple weakness. Which you say when you are feeling weak and sort of near fainting. 

[Daphne]

I may appropriate this next time I have too much cider!  What lovely phrases, I have never heard of anything connecting apples and fainting before, but having seen how a couple of pints of scrumpy can fell even the most hardened person, I can see how its very appropriate!  My favourite French saying is also to do with food 'Ses carrottes sont cuits' (probably spelt wrongly), literally meaning 'his carrots are cooked', or 'he's had it'.

I always thought you said 'Bonsoir' once it was dark, and 'Bon apres midi' in the afternoon.  Here they say the equivalent of 'Good day' in the morning, 'Good later' in the afternoon and early evening, and 'Good night' once it is properly dark.

I don't know what that cheese will be, brie is normally round and I don't think its from Nord Pas de Calais.  Its probably the local variation, lets hope its jolly tasty!  I do like those strawberry pictures, all very cheery.  My Japanese friend left some very odd bits of plastic which you use to cut out shapes from bread (squashy sliced bread I should think), there are letters and there is a template for an apple or something.  I can't really imagine when you would be wanting to do this!

 

 

[patsylabrador]

The templates might be for the bento 🍱 boxes for lunches. They're often extremely pretty and vegetables and so on are cut into shapes and rice balls 🍙 are made into little panda bears and so on. I do bento boxes for my husbands lunches. Sometimes I do something decorative but only if I'm in the mood. If you haven't already it is worth googling bento, some are very artistic. 

We tried the cheese and it was soft with a crust. It was very nice. 

[Geoid]

On 4/24/2019 at 8:37 PM, patsylabrador said:

So when do you say Bonsoir?

It translates as Good Evening

[Ursula123]

If you have a sore throat - chat dans la gorge ( cat in your throat ).

[Daphne]

Thanks PL - who knew food could look like that!  I have an ex-pro chef staying at the moment, when inspired I think I am going to make him some interesting looking nibbles.  We are having enough trouble eating our chocolate easter rabbits in a responsible way, I caught guest eating my OH's rabbit's ears at lunchtime, then rearranging the foil so it looked like the ears were still in there!

[Beantree]

There are regional differences, but down here hello is 'bonjour' at any time. Goodbye on the other hand is time and day related, so 'bonne soirée, bonne jounée or bon weekend. Seems the 'ée' is added in the singular, so 'cette année' is this year, but 10 ans is an age in years. Can't understand it all myself, but one thing I have learned is literal translation doesn't work. A pothole in the road is a 'nid de poule' or 'chicken's nest' as an example.