Maîtres mots

  • Il y a longtemps que notre pays est beau mais rude.

       --Newspaper editor Olivier Séguret, 25 January 2012

    The USA are entirely the creation of the accursed race, the French.

       --Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), writing to Nancy Mitford, 22 May 1957

Search Rue Rude with Google

French Freedom of Speech

Today the cheminots are:


  • "À nous de vous faire préférer le train!"
    "Voyager autrement"
    "Avec le SNCF, tout est possible"
      --Former ad slogans of the SNCF (French national trains), each in turn quickly dropped

Fun French words

  • ouistiti

    (literally: marmoset)
    Etymology: onomatopoeia from the sound a marmoset makes. Actual meaning: this is what you say in France when you want people to smile for the camera.

    Selon une étude réalisée par le fabricant d’appareils photo Nikon, le « ouistiti » utilisé en France au moment de se faire prendre en photo est le petit mot le plus efficace pour s’assurer un joli sourire.

Who's en colère today?

  • Private sector

    First strike in 43 years at an aeronautics company in Toulouse, Latécoère


    Public sector

    The SNCF (toujours eux), regional train employees in the Lyons area guaranteeing unpleasant travel from the 17th-21st December
    Also yet another strike by Sud-Rail, a particularly truculent SNCF union in the south of France, this time five days in January: 6,7, 21, 22 and 23. "We have no choice." Right.

    Marseilles trams on strike until February

Go back to school in Paris!

Send to StumbleUpon!

Become a Fan

Subscribe to Rue Rude's feed

« Gall and the Japanese tourists | Main | Welcome to France! »

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

My grandparents lived around what is now La Defense and their house was “exproprié” to make room for it. They had it built originally and I used to go there many week-ends. My grandfather had a postcard collection. I kept many of his postcards – some were of the 1910 flood of Paris. I showed some of them on my post on my mother who was born in 1910. If you’d like to look at the flood postcards, they are on my post here (of May 29,2010) : http://avagabonde.blogspot.com/2010/05/recollection-mothers-youth-and-house-of.html my grandparents’ house is on this post also. I hope the floods won’t be as bad this year.

That is so interesting! Your mother looks very fashionable-- I guess she would be, being a petite main at the famous House of Worth!

I loved reading about your family!

Also, I love hydrangeas (only blue ones though)-- I have some dried ones sitting near me right this minute. They're so pretty and remind me of my Louisiana grandmother.

The comments to this entry are closed.

Today's quotation

  • In Paris, the purest virtue is the object of the filthiest slander.

      –Honoré Balzac (1799-1850), in Scènes de la vie privée

    À Paris, la vertu la plus pure est l'objet des plus sales calomnies.

Le petit aperçu d'Ailleurs

  • Annual Geminids meteor shower (shooting stars!) coming this weekend, if it's not too cloudy out at night.

News about France in English

Nice to Rude

In Paris, alone, need help?


Overblogs (blogs of blogs)

Paris France in English

Paris en photo