A First

I've seen hundreds of flyers under Paris windshield wipers. This is the first round one.

It figures they'd get around to it sooner or later.

Picasso

It would be nice, I think, to have all cars named Monet, Degas, Da Vinci, Botticelli... the possiblities are endless.

Free-for-All

Gratuit, of course, means "free" or "given." I like to think of all the other words that come from the Latin gratis: gratuity, gratuitous, congratulations, ingrate.

Not the same as libre, which means "free" as in available or unconstrained: as in liberty, liberate, and so forth.

Jouez

Music lessons at home. Better tell the neighbors first.

Blavatsky

????

Puss in Boots

Perrault's fairy tale "Le Chat Botté" is better known in English as "Puss in Boots." Helpful when trying to understand this flyer.

Pare-Brise de la Semaine?

Pardon while the posts and flyers become less frequent -- it's bait-and-switch to call this Pare-Brise du Jour and not post anything for a week.

Check out Polly-Vous Francais? for another flyer.

I love the word pneu. Think of pneumatic drills, pneumonia, and the etymology suddenly becomes crystal-clear.

Taj Mahal

This flyer was under windshield wipers in the 18e arrondissement. Perhaps trying to make a visual connection to Sacre Coeur?

Melt with Pleasure...

... in the spots that you want.

Bikini season is on the horizon.

S'il te plait...

Of course, "S'il te plait, dessine-moi un mouton..." is a classic line from Le Petit Prince.

Cheminees anciennes

That would change your apartment from parquet, moulures, cheminees to just parquet moulures...

Municipal Elections

Lots of campaign flyers on windshields in the past weeks. This is a non-partisan blog, so I'm including them all. But these are just the flyers from windshields; it doesn't include the hand-outs on street corners.

Talky

Forfait is another one of those faux amis. It means "plan," i.e., a calling plan or package. Not forfeit.

Celebrate Valentine's Day

With hizzoner and friends.

La Saint Valentin

It takes two, baby.

Mincir Durablement

I see Cellu M6 promoted a lot. Haven't been there, haven't done that.

Yet.

Haute Gastronomie

I delighted in the words haute gastronomie with the mountain peaks in the background. That's what I call really haute.

Rhymes with...

I'm not sure how to pronounce lingot. More like bingo or mango? T or no T?

Studyrama

The word formation always catches me off guard. I know it means training, but I still think "formation."

Cafe debat

Today is Super Tuesday in the US.

And French municipal elections are coming up in March.

It's a lot of work, keeping up with candidates, issues, and parties on two sides of the Pond. I better go do my homework .

Optez pour la tranquillite

Of course, an added benefit of parking in a garage is that you don't get a collection of advertising flyers cluttering your windshield...

Culture

France is full of culture, but not just with a capital C.
Puericulture, agriculture, viticulture, ostréiculture, myticulture.
And my favorite, conchyliculture.

Which reminds me of the Dorothy Parker quip about horticulture.

Real Estate

I think the prices are stabilizing in Paris. These are from a few months ago. For a long time I confused mètres carrés with mètres carrés Carrez.

But anything with the prefix or suffix immo most certainly has to do with real estate.

Poncer. Not Penser. Not Panser, either

Poncer is one of those French words that, despite years of French literature study, I just wasn't familiar with. It means "to sand," i.e. with sandpaper. Ponçage de parquet is sanding wooden floors.

It's Never Too Early...

..to get ready for bathing suit season. I guess.

I know about PowerPlate, but what's that box?

Help is on the Way

Dunno why -- I love the word ordi (ordinateur) for a computer.
Some people name their computers.

But oh, "mon ordi." Who needs to give it a nickname?

Not a Parking Ticket

An updated version of the windshield flyer for the driving school. Same shape and color as before. Not like the other flyers; it looks kind of like... a Parisian parking ticket!

Think about it. Same target market.

Sushi Shop, Sushi Ship

By far the most elegant windshield flyer to date. A glossy, three-fold pamphlet with menus and all. And they deliver, until 11 pm.

Increase Your Income

Work at home and be your own boss!

Oh, wait, I am my own boss.

Do Drop In

Une halte-garderie is drop-in day care for the kiddos. (As compared with une creche, which is regular day care.) I think I 've got that right.

Reservée aux Particuliers

"Particulier" is one of my favorite English/French faux amis. It means individual. A cours particulier is a private lesson. A hotel particulier is a large town house. In English, of course, we've taken "particular" to mean special, or even fussy. It all boils down to the original "particle."

In this case it means "Just for individual customers," as opposed to wholesalers, who presumably are gnashing their teeth to get in.

Bonne Annee

For help with your New Year's resolutions...