Amuse-Bouche No. 30. Who’s counting? Le monde en
by Julia Freyjulia.frey@aya.yale.edu
can also be a secret code. Last night we spent (New Year’s Eve) with Michel in the country, and today, (New Year’s Day), (literally, everyone made a fat morning, i.e. slept late). One of the joys of gathering together over is discussing the night before, and teasing Michel, who, for mysterious reasons, insisted on dragging every girl in the room over to inspect “ (the New Year’s mistletoe). 01/01 (le 1er janvier) is a new beginning -- a good time for deciding what counts, and how to count it. OK my strong suit isn’t , but I know the difference between as in “That was quite a you did last night, Michel,” as in “you drank (some, i.e. a large number) but who’s counting? ( or ) and , as in “when you’re drunk you’re ( -- a real loser).” Here's the countdown: Un chiffre (figure, digit) is a number between 0 and 9 (Arab numerals). XXX is an example of except when I sign a letter “XXX, Julia.” has no value, it’s just a symbol, like a letter in the alphabet, unless it’s a (sum, total) calculated, say, by (numbers-cruncher) when preparing the mysterious (sales figures) of a business. A monogram is also called because it’s usually complicated and hard to read, like (cipher, encryption code) used by spies -- and by you, to unlock your cell phone. Which you’ll need, if you forget the that gets you into a friend’s apartment building in Paris. A becomes un nombre (number) when it takes on a meaning, just the way becomes in ” (he has) or ” -- short for “” (see you later). describes a quantity, as in . It has a physical, or at least a mathematical sense, even when you don’t know exactly what it adds up to, as in source of the metaphor If the quantity increases, you accumulate Paradoxically, (36) is considered a very large number of things. So if you get hit on the head, you see (candles, i.e. stars) which one hopes only happens (never). A similar impossibility, (the week with 4 Thursdays) began as (wishful thinking) because formerly on Thursday, French schools were closed. But if something happens (every 4 mornings) it can be expected at frequent intervals. Ordinarily, 4 is a small number. The French title of Bertolt Brecht’s The Three-penny Opera is And if it plays to a nearly empty theatre, it attracts an audience of (four baldies and a skinhead) A numéro is different -- it’s a name made out of , usually to represent a position in a series. Its meaning is not related to quantity; it just identifies something, like or (license plate) Though originally reflected the order of skits presented onstage, it has evolved into the expression (to put on an act), thus: “ Even made out of can get confusing. “ (literally “number 12, a second time”) sounds like double talk to an unsuspecting . Everybody knows that represents the twelfth house on the street. But who knew that is an address added next door to , after the street was officially numbered? Consequently -- “number 12, a third time” (if any) is the house later built next door to French literary snobs use in the Latin aphorism, (things repeated are pleasing), leading us to the verb -- yelling “” (Encore! Encore!) at the end of a concert. I have to admit I’ve never actually heard an audience say that. When French audiences like a performance, they clap rhythmically, causing prickly (embarrassment) for any Americans present. In the U.S., slow-clapping is an insult. We only do that if we hate the show. But back to the word (nine, new), as in , which can (be misleading). for example, is not the newest bridge in Paris -- that’s , a footbridge completed in 2006. It’s not the ninth bridge either. Depending on whether you count Paris’s 37 bridges beginning upstream or downstream, is either No. 12 or No. 17. In fact, although it has recently been restored, is, 400 years old -- the oldest bridge in town. It was named when they began building it in 1567. Apparently they still considered it new when they finished it, 36 years later, in 1603. Bonne année !© Julia Frey 2011
