Today's word made me chuckle:
bouder (boo-day), verb
1. to pout or sulk
Look at the pronunciation, if read as English, it too complements the definition that follows.
To illustrate, I wrote a little dialog between a Pouter and her Friend:
Friend: "Look at Mlle. Grumpy Cakes!"
Pouter: "Oh, never mind me. I'm just having a boo day."
Friend: "A 'boo day?'"
Pouter: "Yes. You know, a 'boo hoo' day."
Friend: "Thank you for the warning!"
Pouter: "My pleasure."
The French-Word-of-the-Day also includes a quote containing the word. It wouldn't be French if it wasn't about l'amour.:
"La bouderie en amour est comme le sel ; il n'en faut pas trop."
or put another way...
Sulkiness in love is like salt; you mustn't have too much.
--Proverb
Finally, I need an etymological account for complete satisfaction, and French-Word-of-the-Day never disappoints:
From "bouder" comes the noun "boudoir," which originally meant "a place to sulk in." Though the dictionary says that a boudoir is "un petit salon de dame," it is really nothing more fancy or exciting than a pouting room.
7 comments:
I checked out the French-Word-A-Day site. It's quite charming. And the "bouder" story is funny and sweet. I especially liked that they have an audio file link where you can listen to their son Max saying Mom, don't pout in French.
Ah, bouder. Being from South Louisiana we used lots of French words just thrown in our normal language, and bouder was one of them. We would say "I'm bouder-ing" or "Don't be so bouder", but this is the first time I've ever seen it in print.
Another one was pronounced "haunt" and it meant embarrassed. Not sure how it is spelled or even if it is a real French word. I'm so haunt.
I hope you noticed that I just won your 55 contest! I'm reminding you up here in case you've stopped looking down there!
hehe.. that's weird sounding.
Tonya: That is audio is too precious. He could have said, "Mommy, you are stupid, and I hate you," and I think my reaction would've still been, "Awww..."
I'm going to move my Paris links up to my daily reads section.
Willie: Thank you for sharing that! What other French words are used?
Sleep Goblin: It sounded cute. Congratulations for winning! I look forward to writing your 55. You should see it by tomorrow evening.
(I'm so freakin' busy. I missed writing my morning post.)
Damn! I was getting ready to make some fabulous pun on "boudoir" and pouting. But still, the notion that pouting, like salt, is the levening agent of love. How French!
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sszbuwoo (sizzle--bou-woo): the world famous "progression Francais" in which (1) they "sizzle" (2) she pouts ("elle bou"), and (3) he pitches "woo."
I just signed up! Thanks, JR for my Francophile fix!
OM: Your WV could be the prequel to the cute Pepe le Pew WV from a while back.
Sara: Anything for my fellow Francophile friend!
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