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Lost in Translation Ninety One

May 18, 2013
07:19 AM

Two words in French which I find charming have kept some their old fashioned meanings here.

A few days ago, with a heaped trolly (Chariot here!) I let a woman with a loaf of bread go ahead of me to the check out.
She flashed me her very best smile and said “C’est gentille Monsieur”

In English “gentle” has got to mean soft and delicate, where as here in France it has retained some of the meaning inherent in the word Gentleman, meaning courteous and mannerly.

The second word “Genial” has almost entirely slipped from usage in English, except perhaps in the TV announcers cliche “Our Genial Host”. But Dickens used it a lot and it always brings to my mind one of his more rotund gentlemen with a twinkling eye.
In France it is still much used, even perhaps over used, for “nice”.
No matter, every time I hear someone say “genial” the portly twinkler comes to mind.

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  Martin Dwyer
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