Tita (22 page)

Gallimard
a publishing house founded in 1911 by André Gide, Jean Schlumberger and Gaston Gallimard under the name “Editions de la Nouvelle Revue française”.

genou
knee.

georgette de laine
wool georgette. A sheer, lightweight woolen fabric. From a French dressmaker whose first name was Georgette.

gésir
to be lying. A defective verb, used only in the present and imperfect indicative, and the present participle. On tombstones, you often see the expression
ci-gît
, “here lies”.  

Gilbert Bécaud
French singer, composer and pianist born in 1927. Famous for “La Corrida” (1956), with lyrics by Louis Amade, “Mes Mains”, “Quand tu danses” (1954), and “Le jour où la pluie viendra” (1957), with lyrics by Pierre Delanoë.

goûter
a French meal taken between four and five in the afternoon. Also called
quatre-heures,
“four o’clock”, it is compulsory for children, and optional for adults, who tend to call it
thé,
“tea”. It usually consists in a slice of bread and a few squares of chocolate, or two slices with jam in the middle. For a birthday
goûter
, there’s a cake with candles, fruit salad, and juice. From
goûter
, “to taste”.

grande dame
a woman admired for her moral, intellectual or artistic qualities, or her elegance.

gros pain
large, long, thick bread, weighing 1 kg. It’s the most usual kind of bread, especially for tartines; as opposed to more expensive varieties:
flûte
(thinner) and
baguette
(still thinner).

Henri IV
a public secondary school for boys, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Its building used to be the abbey of St Geneviève, founded in 506. Henri IV was a king of France (1553-1610), famous for saying
“
Paris is well worth a mass” when he converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. Also for wanting his subjects to have, on Sundays, “a chicken in every pot”.

illustrés
that’s what we call magazines with pictures in them, and comic strips.

infiniment
extremely. A word you mostly see after
merci
, “thank you”. More pompous than
merci
beaucoup
, “a lot”, and seldom used by children.

innumerabilibus peccatis, et offensionibus, et negligentiis
numberless sins, offenses and negligences.

Jardin des Modes
garden of fashions. A monthly fashion magazine founded by Lucien Vogel in 1923.

Jean Santeuil
the protagonist’s name in a novel (or essay) Marcel Proust began in 1895 and didn’t finish. The drafts were published in 1952, thirty years after Proust’s death.

jeune fille
a girl, but one who looks grown up, or nearly; my sister Justine, at 14, can be called a
jeune fille
(just) because she has shapely legs, and breasts. Two years ago, she was definitely still a
petite fille
.

jour de garde
day of guard duty. Each Sainte-Blandine pupil engages to attend mass every week on a certain day in order to keep guard – over the holy tabernacle, I guess.

kermesse
charity fair, bazaar. From Flemish
kerkmisse
, “church festival”.

L’Indépendant
a daily newspapers founded in 1846 by François Arago. It is distributed in two
départements
: Aude and Pyrénées-orientales.

La Belle de Cadix
(1946) the beauty of Cadix. A popular operetta by Francis Lopez, then a film by Raymond Bernard (1953), both starring Luis Mariano.

La Petite Illustration
a weekly literary journal created in 1913, which published plays, novels, stories, and some poetry. It included illustrations. All the issues in our attic are from before the war.

La Revue nautique
the nautical magazine, founded in 1944.

La Semaine de Suzette
,
Suzette’s week, a weekly magazine for girls founded in 1905. It featured
Bécassine
, the first French comic strip with a female protagonist – a young mouthless Breton housemaid in traditional costume.
Bécasse
means “woodcock”; also, “silly woman”. There are quite a few feminine bird names in French with the same kind of derogatory denotation:
buse
(buzzard),
perruche
(budgerigar),
poule
(hen),
grue
(crane),
dinde
(turkey hen),
oie
(goose). Not so many for men.

Le Bon Usage
the proper usage. Also called
Le Grevisse.
A unique descriptive grammar of the French language by Maurice Grevisse, first published in 1936. Grevisse, a Belgian, gives many examples and counter-examples illustrating the life of the language: evolution, regional differences, complications and inconsistencies. According to André Gide (in
Le Figaro,
February 8, 1947)
“
he doesn’t legislate; he
observes”.

Le Chanteur de Mexico
(1951) the singer of Mexico City. An operetta by Francis Lopez, then a film by Richard Pottier (1956), both starring Luis Mariano.

Le Midi Libre
free south. A daily newspaper founded in 1944 in Montpellier. Its motto: “From the Alps to the Pyrenees, from the Auvergne to the sea”.

le mois le plus beau
the most beautiful month. Cf
C’est le mois de Marie

Léonie veut aller à la fête
Léonie wants to go to the party
.

Les femmes sont charmantes
women are charming.

Les Petites Filles modèles
(1858) perfect little girls. A novel by the comtesse de Ségur.

Les Quatre Filles du docteur March
(1880)
Dr March’s four daughters. The French title of Louisa May Alcott’s
Little Women.

Les rois qui se sont succédé sur le trône
the kings who succeeded each other on the throne.

librairie Honoré Champion
a bookstore (on the quai Malaquais in Paris) and publishing house founded in 1874.

Lisette
an illustrated weekly magazine for girls, dedicated to stories and serialized novels. It was founded by Editions de Montsouris in 1921.
Lisette
is a girl’s name, short for Elisabeth.

Luis Mariano
French singer of Spanish Basque origin, born in Irun in 1914, famous for his parts in many Francis Lopez operettas and films based on them. 

maman
what little children usually call their mothers in France. It’s okay for children (other than Coralie and me) but the trouble is, some adults go on calling their parents
maman
and
papa
. As a term of address, I’ll bear with it: if someone wants to remain a baby, who am I to object? But you have to cringe when people use these words when talking to and about someone who’s no longer a child. As in “poor man, his
papa
just died”, or “her
maman
will come from Brittany to attend her wedding”.

Marcus Aurelius
(AD
121-180) was a Roman emperor and a Stoic philosopher. He wrote his thoughts in Greek while leading a long campaign against Germanic tribes. His book was later titled
Meditations
, but what he called it was
To Myself
. And he did write for himself, trying to be “free from passion” and not to busy himself “about trifling things”. He died in Vienna, which at the time was called Vindobona. From Gaulish
vindo,
“white”, and
bona,
“bottom”.

Marin
(short for
vent marin)
a southeast wind blowing on the Mediterranean coast from Perpignan to Toulon. Mild and moist, it is more frequent in autumn and in spring.

Maxence & Fils
Maxence & Sons. In France,
Maxence
is a masculine first name as well as a family name.

Mickey
(full name:
Le Journal de Mickey
) a French weekly magazine for children, founded in 1934 by Paul Winkler, of the Press Agency Opera Mundi. It introduced American comic strips into France.

Monsieur 100 000 Volts
a nickname for singer Gilbert Bécaud, who created an electric atmosphere in French music-halls, smashing his piano to pieces while enthusiastic fans tore up their seats.

monsieur le curé
the priest (term of reference); Father (term of address).

mourir
to die.

mousseline de soie
silk muslin. The word
mousseline
, like
muslin
, seems to derive from Mosul, a city in Iraq.

Nous Deux
the two of us. A romantic magazine for women with a lot of photo-romances and some housekeeping advice. It’s published by Cino del Duca (also a film producer), who launched many other magazines of the same kind, like
Intimité,
and comic strips for children.

Nous n’irons plus au bois
we’ll go to the woods no more.
A circle game song, going on with
les lauriers sont coupés,
“the laurels have been cut”.

Occitan
a Romance language spoken in southern France and parts of Spain, Monaco and Italy since the Middle Ages. Its literature, starting with the troubadours, was the first to be written in a Romance language. The language is also called
provençal
,
languedocien
, or
langue
d’oc
. Most of us, in the south, can speak it, and in villages it’s the main language.

Occitania
a region of southwestern Europe where Occitan was the main language until World War I. It includes the southern half of France, Monaco, and small parts of Italy and Spain. 

Occupation
The period of German Military Administration in France, from the armistice of June 22, 1940, (which resulted in a division of the country into an occupied zone and one administered by the Vichy government) to the liberation after the Allied landing of June 1944. From November 1942, the “Free Zone” was also occupied.

omissione
by omission.

opere
by action.

ouf
an onomatopoeic interjection, of relief after effort, fear or discomfort. A bit like
phew
, except it’s never about disgust; or like
whew
, except it can’t express surprise.

Parce que c’est comme ça
Because that’s the way it is. 

pâtisserie
pastry shop. From Latin
pasta
, “paste”. 

patronage
, or
patro
, youth club. From Latin
patronus
, “patron, protector”, derived from
pater,
“father”.

patronne
feminine of
patron.
From Latin
patrona
, “women protector”.

Péguy, Charles
(1873-1914) French poet and essayist. His mother was a widow and a chair mender. He edited a literary magazine,
Les Cahiers de la Quinzaine
. He was a socialist. He loved the Virgin, Joan of Arc, the Beauce region, and Orléans, where he was born. He despised money and the modern world. He died in battle in World War I.

pétanque
a game where you throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called
cochonnet
, “piglet”. It’s played mostly in the south of France, and there are many complicated rules. From Occitan
pè tancat
, “foot rooted”.

petit suisse
little Swiss. A cylinder of fresh cheese about the size of a bobbin. It came from the idea of a Swiss cowherd working on a farm in Picardie.

Pétrole Hahn
a petroleum-based lotion that’s supposed to make your hair irresistibly shiny, and get rid of dandruff. It was invented by Charles Hahn in 1885.

Pieds Nickelés
nickel-plated-feet. A comic series started by Louis Forton in the magazine
L’Épatant
. The three protagonists’ feet are too heavy, or too precious, for work, so the the poor men have to become crooks.

place du marché
market square.

plate Beauce
flat Beauce. The Beauce is a region between Paris and Orléans, with a lot of wheat fields and the cathedral city of Chartres in the middle. Probably from pre-Latin
belsa,
“plateau”.