I got myself a sugar daddy!
Out for a coffee the other day, I was surprised to see I’d scored myself a sugar daddy, so I took a photo. Here is my sugar daddy. Actually, it’s a ‘sucre daddy’ (‘sucre‘ is French for sugar), and as …
Out for a coffee the other day, I was surprised to see I’d scored myself a sugar daddy, so I took a photo. Here is my sugar daddy. Actually, it’s a ‘sucre daddy’ (‘sucre‘ is French for sugar), and as …
April Fool’s Day in France is known as Poisson d’avril (April Fish) thanks to a bizarre tradition of sticking paper fish to people’s backs. Perhaps equivalent to ‘Kick me’ signs in English, the fish should only be attached on 1st …
It helps to speak the local language when living in a foreign country, but that takes time. France is probably less English-friendly than some other countries, so praise those kind souls who translated this defibrillator sign at a hospital in …
Got a sore throat? Dry cough? You need Drill. That’s right: there’s a brand of throat lozenges in France called Drill. The word has no meaning at all in French, so I’m not rubbishing the French here, but I do …
So, what’s one of the first words you learn in French? For me, ‘merci‘, was one of the few I already knew before the battle with this lovely language began. For years, I’ve been using this word to thank people …
For years, I’ve lived in France and been confused about a few signs on cars (and on roads, but we’ll save that for another time). I thought this black and white sign was a graphic version of ‘Baby on Board’ …
One of the interesting things about learning French with native speakers all around me is their use of words that they never teach you at school. Take terrible for example. It has the same meaning as the English word, but …
Here is a photo of Vernazza, one of the five villages that makes up the Cinque Terre in Italy. I was there last month, walking the paths — often just some stones raised off the slanting ground to flatten it …
I’ve always been impressed with how many languages flight attendants speak on international flights, and in the past, easyJet has been no exception. On my flight over to England from Geneva last week, the two flight attendants greeting passengers were …
Friends warned me about Corsica before I left home, from: “They’ll ignore you in shops if you’re not Corsican,” to the rather extreme: “The locals slash tyres of tourist cars: buy a Corsica sticker and put it near your number …