Amuse-Bouche No. 20: A la recherche du temps...

by Julia Frey (julia.frey@aya.yale.edu)

"Il pleut sur Nantes," sings Barbara. It's also raining on Paris, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Today's carte météorologique (weather map) shows toute la Gaule (all Gaul, the Roman name for France) dotted with dripping rain. Toute? Non! In one irréductible (defiant) corner of the southeast, a sole soleil sparkles. Ah, Nice. The city has what the French love to call a microclimat. Elsewhere, il fait un temps à ne pas mettre un chien dehors - it's weather you wouldn't put a dog out in - but here it's almost la canicule (dog days). Le temps est au beau fixe (the barometer says fine weather) most days of the year.


Actually it rains as much in Nice as it does elsewhere in France, only it all falls at once. In winter, it can turn into a déluge. Nevertheless in the 1840s, stylish Brits declared Nice a nice place to spend le carnaval, and ever since, a substantial number of British residents walk their dogs on la Promenade des Anglais. At first this was risky. The traditional bataille des fleurs (battle of flowers, a parade of flower-bedecked floats) on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) included tossing kilos of plaster confettis simulating the sugarcoated almonds Italians call confetti. People donned long overcoats and wire masks to avoid injury. Fortunately, in 1892, plaster was outlawed and replaced by the colorful bits of paper we know today.


Carnival, whose Latin etymology is carnem levāre, "to put away meat" (or possibly carne vale, "farewell to meat"), is a strangely flexible festivity. Places that really like to party open the pre-Lenten celebration as early as November. Classically, it starts on L'Épiphanie, known as le Jour des Rois, the day the three kings arrived in Bethlehem. That's when you look for la fève, a lucky "bean", in une galette des Rois (a king cake, a traditional pastry). These days, the "bean" is usually a small figurine or fanciful charm.


In many countries Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 (Twelfth Night). In Belgium and France, it's the second Sunday after Christmas. But whenever it begins, the carnival period usually ends with Mercredi des Cendres (Ash Wednesday), the beginning of Carême (Lent). In Nice, however, carnaval begins on February 13, and the Niçois keep tossing confetti and flowers until March 1, probably to promote tourism during the off-season.


By then le temps s'est écoulé (time has passed) and le temps est meilleur-the weather has improved. The word le temps, same spelling, pronunciation and etymology, can mean time, weather, or tense (present, past, future). Il y a temps et temps; i.e., it depends on the context. A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, Marcel Proust's novel exploring wasted, long gone and forgotten times, has caused translation problems for years. And since it's seven volumes long, it takes plenty of time to read (but hardly temps perdu).


Now, parlons de la pluie et du beau temps (let's talk about rain and fine weather, i.e. let's make casual conversation). English speakers say everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. In French you could say an alpha dog (chef de meute) fait la pluie et le beau temps (rules the roost). Maybe that's why animal imagery dominates French weather metaphors. When il fait un temps de chien (the weather's horrible-see above) or un froid de canard (cold weather is for ducks?), it might pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse(just be glad that cows don't fly).


But when it's raining cats and dogs in English, the French abandon zoology: la pluie tombe à seaux (rain falls in buckets), il pleut des cordes (ropes) or even il tombe des hallebardes (halberds: a combined spear and battle-ax). If you forget your parapluie (umbrella), vous prenez une douche (you take a shower) and get trempé (soaked) jusqu'aux os (to the marrow) or, more rarely, comme une soupe. (The original soupe was a slice of bread with bouillon poured over it.)


Poet Paul Verlaine played with the liquid and sonorous similarity of pleuvoir (to rain) and pleurer (to weep) in "Il pleure dans mon coeur (heart) comme il pleut sur la ville". Many metaphors go further, ascribing human feelings to weather. Le temps boude (sulks), il est détraqué (upset, nuts), maussade (sullen), barbouillé (queasy), tristounet (gloomy), incertain (hesitant) or capricieux. The wind soupire (sighs), siffle (whistles), se lamente (grieves) and se tait (shuts up).


Have you heard of the pathetic fallacy? In sunny Nice, when people feel sad and it happens to rain, they think the weather's being sympathetic (il pleut parce que je pleure: it's raining because I'm crying). Non! It's vice versa. (I'm crying because it's raining.) Luckily on the Promenade des Anglais you can buy a sympathetic pink parapluie. When you open it, everyone sees the words "Merde, il pleut".


©Julia Frey 2010

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of New York in French to add comments!

Join New York in French

Comments

  • Bonjour Anne! J'espère que ce n'esy pas mopn blog qui aura causé la tempête ! Ici, enfin, c'est le printemps. Peut-être aussi bientôt pour New York.
  • Bonjour Juliia, je viens d'envoyer ton blog a une amie qui rentrera bientot a Paris. Comme pendant les 4 jours de sa visite a NY une grosse tempete ne nous quittait pas, le vocabulaire m'etait tres utile! Merci.
  • I enjoy reading your blog much Julia!
  • Ah Claude L ! Qu'est-ce que je ferais sans toi pour me rappeller à l'ordre (stylistique) ? Et merci pour la nouvelle expression.

    Julia
  • "But when it's raining cats and dogs in English, the French abandon zoology": I beg to disagree, Julia.
    What about "Il pleut comme vache qui pisse"?
    Another one you might like: "Il fait un vent à décorner tous les cocus de France et de Navarre."
    Put the two together and you've got a pretty good description of "la tempête".
  • Ellen, j'avoue tout ! J'ai posté cet amuse-bouche AVANT la tempête, mais pour un affichage officiel au 1er mars (je les poste d'habitude le 1er du mois). Donc je ne savais pas que j'allais avoir un si beau prétexte, aussi bien pour l'article, que pour un jeu de mots... Quel dommage. Mais moins dommage que la tempête. Nous aurions pu nous en passer, n'est-ce pas?
  • D'accord avec les autres commentaires. Mais, Julia, vous avez oublie la "tempete". C'est celle de vendredi/samedi qui occasionait plusieurs heures de retard pour moi en rentrent meme dimanche 28/2 de Paris. Mon séjour, pourtant, a part cette rentree, etait super.(Mes excuses pour n'importe quelle(s) faute(s) de francais.)
    Ellen
  • Bonjour Julia. C'est lundi matin le premier mars et je viens de lire "Amuse Bouche" 20.
    Commencer le mois de mars par la lecture de votre blog spirituel m'a fait beaucoup de plaisir. Un grand merci.
    Bonne continuation!

    Muriel
  • Merci Julia encore une fois pour tes pages!
    Je les donnerai aux élèves ! C'est très amusant! et intéréssant!
    Maria
  • julie, c'est fabuleux ce que tu fais. je lis toujours tes pages a mes eleves qu'ils les trouvent super. je te souhaite bonne continuation...ca nous aide b.c.p.
    a bientot,
    laja
This reply was deleted.

Visit our bookstore

 

 

Visit our store

Learn French