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Lost in Translation Seventy Two

July 25, 2011
08:59 AM

We are full at the moment with a theatre company from Switzerland who are putting on a production of La Comedie des Erreurs in the garden of the local big house.
We always serve Fromage Frais with our breakfast fruit and as I feared we might run out I dropped into our local shop to see if they stocked it (this shop is called Le Point Show , another reason to get lost in translation, as they used to stock Videos [show] and they are a hot bread shop [chaud])
As this is a shop with a counter, and the goods behind it -remember them ?- I asked Madame if she had some fromage frais.
Madame was obviously offended “Mais toutes mes fromages sont frais Monsieur !”
I quickly realised my mistake.
The soft fresh cheese which I serve here, we call fromage frais (literally fresh cheese) in Ireland , here, in the Languedoc, it is called Fromage Blanc.
I quickly corrected myself with madame and , mollified, she allowed me to buy some cheese for breakfast.

It does leave me with a very strange anomaly , why in Ireland do we call this cheese a different – but still French name ? And why is the French word for Cul-de-Sac :- Impasse ?

Comments

  1. Peter

    on July 25, 2011

    The last words of your blog prompt me to share a recent verse with you:
    Our life is fast and fleet,
    There is no turning back;
    I don’t mind the one-way street –
    But alas. the cul-de-sac!
    I’d love to see The Comedy of Errors in French.

  2. Martin

    on July 25, 2011

    Oh Peter, dear friend , you still write the verse I love best . Short, succinct and (above all) witty.

  3. padraic

    on July 27, 2011

    And why is Cul-de-Sac called Voie Sans Issue en France?

  4. martine

    on July 27, 2011

    …for the same reason you have also “dead end” and “blind alley” in English. Salut à tous.

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