tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post3291983237640510683..comments2023-11-02T12:36:23.182+01:00Comments on the brain police: Non Nuclear Wintermicrodothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01564820031343630871noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-59708422575162626392012-02-08T09:14:56.102+01:002012-02-08T09:14:56.102+01:00Late yesterday afternoon, the chauffagist arrived....Late yesterday afternoon, the chauffagist arrived...I'm always gratified to discover that when I call an expert it was for a problem I could never have figured out on my own...he had to replace a few seriously soiled valves and cleaned stuff....he seems to think the fuel being sold now is responsible for a rash of problems like this...<br />The heat came back on and we had our coldest night yet here...how cold? so cold that some of the oaks in the forest are making noises like guns going off in the night when the water in the layers of the wood freezes and expands!microdothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01564820031343630871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-45375762227950339032012-02-07T16:05:42.103+01:002012-02-07T16:05:42.103+01:00Hello Microdot,
Thank you for the French lesson. I...Hello Microdot,<br />Thank you for the French lesson. I am going to copy and paste it to a word doc. so I can refer to this if need to at a later date. I was having this debate with an old school teacher of mine and I thought that I was correct in using the pas in my statement. You are my "Go To" guy when it comes to French..... it is a language I play with trying to learn on my own and expose to my youngest daughter because I think it is important.Engineer of Knowledgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02179784871538454388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-13605530746050654832012-02-07T15:18:39.675+01:002012-02-07T15:18:39.675+01:00well of course, correct formal french would always...well of course, correct formal french would always have the pas...but colloquial french often drops the pas....the difference is the english equivalent of the difference between the formal, I do not know what: je ne sais pas quoi, and the slang , whatever: je ne sais quoi.....It is very common, the way most people talk....<br />in french slang, how ever, you can really shorten things using pas....no good is pas bon.....It's not right becomes pas correct....you do not pronounce the s in the world pas unless in most cases the next word begins with an "s" sound. so pas bon is pah bon....<br />It's a crazy language, but then again so is english.microdothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01564820031343630871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-20168674960263454802012-02-07T14:21:46.975+01:002012-02-07T14:21:46.975+01:00Hello Microdot,
I saw the weather news and noted t...Hello Microdot,<br />I saw the weather news and noted that your winter weather was pounding you hard. Living in the country myself as you know, I was hoping you were doing OK being on the remote edge of civilization.<br /><br />I hope you still have electric so you could a least run an electric heater in the bedroom at night taking advantage of your wife’s, and dog’s shared body heat. :-)<br /><br />On a side note I wanted to ask you to help me with a question. Is the correct phrase in French "je ne sais pas quoi" or is it reduced to just "je ne sais quoi."Engineer of Knowledgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02179784871538454388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-47147672238484432152012-02-07T14:00:28.544+01:002012-02-07T14:00:28.544+01:00Garrr...I cannot believe that I am waiting for the...Garrr...I cannot believe that I am waiting for the plumber, or someone like him....Our central heating went out this morning and I think it's a clogged fuel line. Tonight will be the coldest night yet. <br />We are lucky, the chauffagist just called back and is on his way...but I have 2 friends who are suffering from frozen water pipes...most construction here is not built with this kind of cold in mind. So, luckily, I have a surplus of foam pipe covers and a few rolls of insulation and just spent 2 hours at the neighbors with a blow torch thawing and insulating pipes! Here I have a big fire in the chimney, my wife is making a gateau au riz, which I adore and we have a mont d'or cheese which I will put in the oven with bread crumbs over it and that's dinner tonight with some air cured ham and boiled potatoes! I'm going to go out and play with the dog, who loves the cold.....microdothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01564820031343630871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32733123.post-79306340363569496732012-02-07T13:02:04.247+01:002012-02-07T13:02:04.247+01:00Hey - you're having the winter WE usually get ...Hey - you're having the winter WE usually get here in MN.<br /><br />It was so warm in January that we were referring to it as June-uary.<br /><br />Stay warm, and good luck with the trees and plants. We're worried about trees having started to bud here as well.dog gonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151618317070878675noreply@blogger.com