tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post7811030041289093017..comments2024-02-29T03:34:23.190-05:00Comments on Who Were the Sea Peoples?: Non, non, monsieur, mais c'est un multifonction laser monochrome!gcallahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-19928611608673764992012-01-27T12:37:59.501-05:002012-01-27T12:37:59.501-05:00You can broaden your horizons considerably in a l...You can broaden your horizons considerably in a lumber yard in Ontario. You learn, for example, that drywall screws are 'vis a mur sec' ['screws for wall dry']. And then you notice that appliance specs take up about 50% more space in French than English, given all those clunky constructions around which we get in English with our system of unacknowledged compounds. <br /><br />There's probably a gain in reading them, though, since the French seem to pronounce less than half of what's on the page. Only Gaelic could top that.Joseph R. Stromberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04150171845073669140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-13066482902692112712012-01-27T06:34:19.566-05:002012-01-27T06:34:19.566-05:00OK, PS, I kept trying this through online translat...OK, PS, I kept trying this through online translators, but they kept saying what I wrote. So finally I found a fluent French speaker, and she says you are correct. Thus, the change in title.<br /><br />Jim, you may be correct -- my sources are all old.gcallahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-82855882613834926212012-01-26T17:03:41.573-05:002012-01-26T17:03:41.573-05:00Oh. But then it should be "c'est un multi...Oh. But then it should be "c'est un multifonction laser monochrome," no? "N'est" is a contracted form of "ne est."<br /><br />I think you're being confused by the fact that in French the negatives come in pairs. "Ne ... pas" together make "not" (though in speech "ne" is often discarded). For a positive affirmation, you need to ditch the "n'" and contract "ce est" to "c'est."PHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12011728672116977010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-85766901322199732142012-01-26T16:39:46.279-05:002012-01-26T16:39:46.279-05:00I don't think so, ps, because what I was tryin...I don't think so, ps, because what I was trying to say is NOT that it is not one of those, but that it IS. one of those.gcallahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065877215969589482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-4053934871893893882012-01-26T16:23:41.759-05:002012-01-26T16:23:41.759-05:00I read an article within the last few months on th...I read an article within the last few months on the theme "France is secretly awesome!" that claimed that the classic Academie-driven language chauvinism was largely a thing of the past. I have, to be sure, only that single source for the claim.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08018705513587424497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7225373.post-63390887505130253062012-01-26T13:34:43.629-05:002012-01-26T13:34:43.629-05:00Actually, that should be "ce n'est pas un...Actually, that should be "ce n'est pas un multifonction laser monochrome."PHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12011728672116977010noreply@blogger.com