Word for the Travel Wise (04/01/06)

After discovering the Josephine Baker tours being held this year in France I have made a conscious decision to not only tour France, but to brush up intensely on my French. Yes, I know. In my last two posts I was a little hard on the lang, constantly noting how I don't really care to waste my time learning such a pretentious tongue, but let's just say I've had a change of heart. French isn't half as bad as I make it sound and doesn't sound half as bad as Thai for instance. The beauty of the French language like Spanish and other Romance lingos is the similarities among several words. It's usually all those abstract accent marks making it seem as if the word is much harder to pronounce. In that case I suggest you either avoid or just ignore the marks completely and say the words as you normally may in English with a slight Texas-drawl.

Today's word is a French word used in France:

frottis - (pronounced fro-tee) fruit

This word is an easy one. No accents marks either. It's only a smidge different from the English meaning in pronunciation. Here's a formula to follow: frottis - (fro-tee) - fruit - (fruity). Those French fashionistas may be right about American's being flashy in attire, but nothing is more flamboyant than their vernacular, so make sure you kick up the body language and wiggle just a little when you say today's word. Tell your server at the restaurant you're in the mood for something frottis or the old woman and vendor of the fruit stand that you want the freshest of frottis. They'll be so impressed you'll want to thank me later.

Anyhow... free online sources include France-Pub, French Assistant, and the BBC Languages.

Past French words: confiture, difficile

Filed under: Learning, Europe, France, April Fools Posts, Foreign Language