14.06.a - For the Love of French Words

Total immersion into beautiful French words A celebration of France & St Valentines Day This edition is especially for those who'd love nothing more than to discover superb words & pronounce them well

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Merci. Judy - 17.2.24

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1. For the Love of French Words

As many of you would know I love words! And so, it follows that I love French words. Over the years I’ve come across some beautiful words, as I’m sure have you. words that sing, words that evoke memories, words that paint pictures.

And given this past week has included Valentine’s Day, I thought - why not talk about the words that I love?

But what makes words beautiful? Words are most beautiful when there’s a marriage of both sound and meaning, but perhaps a better description might be that language is most beautiful when sound is intertwined with memory and experience. And you?

How else could I explore this?

• Words that look beautiful in writing (ie- aesthetically pleasing words)

• Terms that sound beautiful (eg- onomatopoeia or just euphonious)

• Words that have a beautiful meaning

And on it goes…

Shall I start to explore what are my favourite French words?

Here are some of my true favourites! Are your favourites on this little list or the two longer lists to follow?

1. - Bidouiller, fiddle

2. - Chouettes, owls

3. - Chuchoter, whispering

4. - Douceur, sweetness

5. - Éboulisante, scrambling

6. - Effleurer, flicking

7. - Époustouflant, breathtaking

8. - Fanfaronner, bragging

9. - Farfouiller, fumbling

10. - Feuilleter, leaf-through, browse

11. - Frimousse, face (eg: Quelle jolie frimousse)

12. - Insoupçonné, unsuspected

13. - Kiffe, love

14. - Onctueuse, creamy

15. - Pantouffle, slipper

16. - Pantalonade, slap-stick, farce

17. - Pétillante, sparkling

Aren’t these superb?

Try sprinkling these through your conversation and see how you feel! breathe, sigh…

but there are more… and I’m about to share a large bouquet of them with you:

French is the language of many famous authors such as Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant, and Charles Baudelaire. It’s the language of romance, gastronomy, of high fashion, of Paris!

So let’s head off and find more beautiful French words together.