lemony snicket + french
The French expression âcul-de-sacâ describes what the Baudelaire orphans found when they reached the end of the dark hallway, and like all French expressions, it is most easily understood when you translate each French word into English. The word âde,â for instance, is a very common French word, so even if I didnât know a word of French, I would be certain that âdeâ means âof.â The word âsacâ is less common, but I am fairly certain that it means something like âmysterious circumstances.â And the word âculâ is such a rare French word that I am forced to guess at its translation, and my guess is that in this case it would mean âAt the end of the dark hallway, the Baudelaire children found an assortment,â so that the expression âcul-de-sacâ here means âAt the end of the dark hallway, the Baudelaire children found an assortment of mysterious circumstances.â -- tee
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If you have ever experienced something that feels strangely familiar, as if the exact same thing has happened to you before, then you are experiencing what the French call âdĂ©jĂ vu.â Like most French expressionsââennui,â which is a fancy term for severe boredom, or âla petite mort,â which describes a feeling that part of you has diedââdĂ©jĂ vuâ refers to something that is usually not very pleasant, and it was not pleasant for the Baudelaire orphans to stand outside the freaksâ caravan listening to Count Olaf and experiencing the queasy feeling of dĂ©jĂ vu. -- tcc
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The word âdenouementâ is not only the name of a hotel or the family who manages it, particularly nowadays, when the hotel and all its secrets have almost been forgotten, and the surviving members of the family have changed their names and are working in smaller, less glamorous inns. âDenouementâ comes from the French, who use the word to describe the act of untying a knot, and it refers to the unraveling of a confusing or mysterious story, such as the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, or anyone else you know whose life is filled with unanswered questions. The denouement is the moment when all of the knots of a story are untied, and all the threads are unraveled, and everything is laid out clearly for the world to see. -- tpp
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I forced myself to calm down. If someone disappears around a corner, it means theyâve gone into one of the buildings or a giant bird has carried them away. The skies were clear, so I checked doorways. There was an abandoned restaurant, with round tables that were too small to eat at comfortably. I peered through the cracked window and read some words on a chalkboardâLES GOMMES, which was French for who knew whatâbut the door was nailed shut, tight as a coffin. Before long all doors in town would be that way, with the Knights abandoning their ink business and moving to the city.
Across the street was another closed business. The broken sign read UARIU, which didnât look like French. -- wdyshl
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My associate was right. The word âMaydayâ does have a French origin. It comes from the term âMâaider,â which in French means âhelp me.â You could probably see it in my eyes as I stared out at the seaweed that lived when the sea was drained away, for no reason anyone could explain, and that moved in ways so mysterious no one could imagine them. I couldnât take my eyes off it. -- sybis
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âItâs at the confluence of two large rivers that turn gray and still at night,â I said. âWinnipeg has been greatly influenced by French culture, so it will be no chore at all to find a good French press. We will drink coffee and watch the river from the balcony of the house of an associate of mine. We will attend masked balls at her castle, and you can get scared then.â
âCastle?â she said.
âMy associate is the Duchess of Winnipeg,â I said, âor she will be, when her mother dies.â -- witndfaon












