Saturday, October 3, 2009

esprit











naturally, this charming word is french. as in all translations, one can only try to convey the meaning. 'liveliness' comes close. i recently read a book entitled, 'what french women know' by debra ollivier. she is one of several americans who spent years in france. it seems that it is not so easy to comprehend just how different french people are from americans. as i love paris i thought i would read up. one of the most fascinating qualities is bound up in that little word, 'esprit.' my dear friend genevieve hails from the south of france so over the years i have been aware of her inherent 'frenchiness.' the fact that she extends her pinkie fingers while using both a knife and fork (at the same time!) is but one difference between us. the study is long and much labored over but 'esprit' is definitely worth investigating.

francoise dorleac was the embodiment of 'esprit' in truffaut's lovely film, 'la peau douce' (the soft skin)/so many books written by foreigners trying to crack the code that french women are born knowing.

4 comments:

nipper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pal shazar said...

oh gosh, these are not mine!

Polly-Vous Francais said...

Hi.

Right! They are mine!

Well, a couple of things. That photo is copyrighted by me. From my blog
http://pollyvousfrancais.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-french-women-know-part-2.html

Sometimes when fellow bloggers use my photos or a slip of text and link to my blog, I am A-OK with that. But not link and no mention is a big faux pas of bloggiquette.

The odd thing is that the post is about copyright infringement related to "What French Women Know"

Solidarity, my blog friend, solidarity.

Polly-Vous Francais said...

P.S. So if you wish to continue using the photo, please put a credit and link to my blog underneath it. Or else remove it. Thanks.