Every day I see flyers stuck under windshield wipers in cars parked along the street. I don't know why, but I've been collecting them for over a year now. A slice of Paris life.

I have no knowledge of or vested interest in the establishments advertised in these flyers.

If you see a bona fide Paris windshield advertising flyer and would like to have it posted here, submit the scanned version to me at pollyvousfrancais [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll do my best to include it. With attribution, of course!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

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.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

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.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

It's Never Too Early...

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

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

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

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?

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

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.

Monday, January 14, 2008

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.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Increase Your Income

Work at home and be your own boss!

Oh, wait, I am my own boss.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

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.

Friday, January 4, 2008

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.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Bonne Annee


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