When is a
croche not a croche? When it's a quaver, of course. And as for being
sensible, well, I thought I was playing sensibly!
It can be very confusing teaching and playing in France, as there are so many
faux amis, or false friends, ready to trip you up. A crotchet to us anglais is
une noire, a black or simply filled-in note, as opposed to
une blanche, which is a minim. With me so far?
My favourite is
la note sensible, which is not a note on good behaviour, but the leading note; ça veut dire the seventh note of the scale that leads up to the tonic - it's much more expressively named in French, for what is, of course, a very expressive note. Well, it can be if it's played sensibly.
My other fave fauxs, which often leave me conversationally stranded in the fossé (and while we're still in the ditch, an orchestra pit is
une fosse d'orchestre, which puts the poor players in their place), are words such as
notoriété, formidable, redoutable. I would have to be careful not to describe myself in my publicity blurb as the well-known, and nice but terrible cellist,
or even the notorious and formidable cellist, the redoubtable Lowri Blake.
Pas terrible! Not great - oh dear, even that's a faux ami; I get terribly confused by
terrible. Je suis terriblement confondue - le comble de la confusion....
Where was I? Oh yes, confused. Here are a few more faux amis to watch out for, which incessantly trip up the unguarded:
incessement doesn't in fact mean incessantly, but imminently or very soon;
un affluent is not a loaded person or something opulent, but a tributary. I rather like the expression for the rush hour;
l'heure d'affluence. At least it doesn't seem so bad if you're stuck in an affluent traffic jam.
I particularly like
le traiteur, who turns out to be a harmless caterer. If you are
unereligieuse, yes, you are indeed religious; in fact, you're a nun.
So, with this
conversation dissipée, possibly 'diverting' or 'entertaining', but equally 'dissipated', I will leave you
sur pied having crawled out of my
fossé, with one last faux ami, which turns out to have been anything
but amicable.
Un mariage blanc is not a white wedding, all bells and bliss, but a marriage of convenience, or unconsummated marriage.
Next post - Fractured French, coming soon.
Posted by
Lowri Blake, the notoriously well-known and terribly nice cellist.