Paris In New York

Il Dolce Far Niente...

Last week, while I was in the plane coming back from the beautiful and delicious Buenos-Aires, I was watching Julia Robert in Eat, Pray and Love (click to see the scene) and, since then, I cannot get over this fabulous term invented by the Romans:

“Il dolce far niente!” Translation from Italian to English? “The sweetness of doing nothing”. In French, "l'art de ne rien faire".

The scene is set in a barbershop in Rome. The character goes on to explain that Italians may wonder home after a few hours of working to take a little nap, they may be inspired by a nearby cafe and sit down to have a glass of wine, or they may just go home and make love to their wife.

In this rush of the holidays, I started dreaming about what would be the best way to do Il Dolce Farniente ? What could help us stop our frantic activities and just BE in the present moment and enjoy any minutes of it without that feeling of "have to do something" ?

I am thinking suddenly about the cows in their field watching the train pass...Hum, not too much unrealistic in the noisy and bubbly New York! Then I would recommend a good chair, a pair of sunglasses and a nice glass of wine in your hand....Hanging out in one of the brasseries like Balthazar or Pastis...Find a nice bench in Central Park.....

Parisians enjoying Il Dolce Far Niente in Le Jardin du Luxembourg

The New Yorkers enjoying a good meal at Balthazar

 

How about just staying in bed like Madame Recamier in Paris in the 19th century...

Madame Recamier whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circle

or adopting the "OM...." position ?

Sorry guys, but in that cold winter, I think my way of finding Il Dolce Far Niente is to fly far away from Paris and New York....

About you ???

 

 

 

Paris Versus New York...

The perfect blog to compare the two cities in a funny but clever way...

http://parisvsnyc.blogspot.com/

 

Thanksgiving in 1530 ?

"Appetite comes with eating. But thirst departs with drinking..." Francois Rabelais, Gargantua 1534

"No clock is more regular than the belly.."

  

"Hungry bellies have no ears"

 

This is why anymore I don't understand what people say when I go back to France ...

I let you read this article from the Wall Street Journal. So hilarious...How to make it longer when it could be so easy and efficient...a French recipe ???

"The French Get Lost in the Clouds Over a New Term in the Internet Age

By MAX COLCHESTER

PARIS -- The word on the table that morning was "cloud computing."

To translate the English term for computing resources that can be accessed on demand on the Internet, a group of French experts had spent 18 months coming up with "informatique en nuage," which literally means "computing in cloud."

France's General Commission of Terminology and Neology -- a 17-member group of professors, linguists, scientists and a former ambassador -- was gathered in a building overlooking the Louvre to approve the term.

"What? This means nothing to me. I put a 'cloud' of milk in my tea!" exclaimed Jean Saint-Geours, a French writer and member of the Terminology Commission.

"Send it back and start again," ordered Etienne Guyon, a physics professor on the commission.

Keeping the French language relevant isn't easy in the Internet age. For years, French bureaucrats have worked hard to keep French up to date by diligently coming up with equivalents for English terms. Though most French people say "le week-end" and "un surfer," the correct translations of the terms are "fin de semaine" ("end of the week") and "aquaplanchiste" ("water boarder"). A "start-up" company is referred to as "jeune pousse," or "young shoot" (the term pousse is used for vegetable sprouts), while the World Wide Web is translated as "toile d'araignée mondiale" (literally, global spider web).

to read more 

Translating to Keep French Alive

As new English words pop up, the French government creates alternatives in its native tongue. It makes for some interesting translations; here are a few:

Automobile:

Air bag -- sac gonflable (inflatable bag)

Business:

Brainstorming -- remue-méninges (Brain-stirring)
Viral marketing -- bouche à oreille électronique(electronic word of mouth)

Fashion:

Supermodel -- mannequin vedette (model star)

Food:

Snacking -- grignotage (nibbling)

Sports (general):

Big air (when snowboarding) -- saut acrobatique sur tremplin de neige (acrobatic jump on a springboard of snow) 
Draft -- recrutement des espoirs (recruitment of hopes) 
Frisbee -- disque-volant (flying disc) 
Skateboard -- planche acrobatique terrestre(terrestrial acrobatic board) 
Stepper (Stepmaster) -- simulateur-ergomètre d'escalier (stair simulator)

Technology:

Emoticon -- frimousse (show-off) 
Personal digital assistant (PDA) -- assistant électronique de poche (electric pocket assistant)
Trojan horse (computer virus) -- cheval de Troie(horse of Troy)

Tennis:

Break -- brèche (breach) 
Let -- Filet! (net!) 
Tiebreaker -- jeu décisif (decisive game)

Source: The General Delegation for the French Language and the Languages of France

French Institute - Many interesting events in October

Among others, I would recommend:

. the Cross Cultural Workshop : Interesting in moving to France ? How to assimilate quickly...

Mondays, 6–9pm 
October 5 and November 2: Vivre en France / Living in France 
October 19 and November 16: Travailler en France / Working in France

. Theatrical event :

Fabrice Luchini : "Le Point sur Robert"

Wednesday & Thursday, October 7 & 8, 2009 at 8pm
Florence Gould Hall

The French actor, winner of multiple Cesar Awards, will also present the movie The Discreet. 

Tue, Oct 6

. For the kids:

Cook in French (5-11yrs)- Sat, Oct 3

Bookmaking (4-6yrs)- Sat, Oct 10

Bookmaking (7-10yrs)- Sat,Oct 10

L'Heure du Conte - Thu, Oct 1 (3-6yrs): storytime program with French stories and songs

A Petits Pas Story Hour (2-3yrs) - Thur,Oct 8 : French stories for toddlers

Cine-club des Frimousses (3-8yrs) - Thur, Oct 8 ; french movie club

More Info, go to www.fiaf.org

Pensee du Jour... Thought of the Day

From the taxi window...

Banks are to New York what Bakeries are to Paris... the most visited places around the corner...

Maybe if the banks had a delicious smell, we wouldn't have a financial crisis ! But as the emperor Vespasien said:"l'argent n'a pas d'odeur"( Money does not have any smell)...Too bad !