You what?

Par réalité et par perfection j’entends la même chose // Reality and perfection are synonymous

Today’s prompt is “reality”, réalité.

The literal translation of Spinoza’s quote is “By reality and by perfection I mean the same thing”.

Apparently, the quote can be interpreted in a variety of ways. By now it’s practically impossible to figure out what he meant exactly, maybe he was just trolling.

The cat, while stuck indoors, is attempting to read books which are way too complicated. That much is clear.

“Hein” is an equivalent of “huh”, “eh”, “wha’”, etc.

Chou qui a été au collège

Chou qui a été au collège // Cabbage with a college education

The full quote looks like this:

La formation c’est tout. La pêche a commencé par être une amande amère; le chou-fleur n’est jamais qu’un chou qui a été au collège.

It is from Mark Twain (he was a funny guy if there ever was one) and the original is, obviously, in English:

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.

Now, the cat doesn’t like either cabbage or cauliflower, so it makes no difference to him. He is a bit perplexed as to what all the fuss is about.

Un professeur d’espérance

Le poète doit être un professeur d’espérance // The poet must be a teacher of hope

The prompt for today is “professor”, professeur, the word which means teacher in general and can be applied to teachers on all academic (and not academic) levels.

The cat is a poet of course. He just wrote a kanji for “hope” directly, in seems, on the windowpane. I think he is hoping to get out of the house before all the petals fall off the sakura trees.

Plaisir à jouer dans un pré

J’éprouve toujours du plaisir à jouer dans un pré: là, il n’y a aucune obligation de victoire //
I always have fun playing in a meadow: there, there is no obligation to win

Today’s prompt is “obligation”, written exactly the same in French and English.

The pearl of wisdom above comes from Michel Platini, hence the nature of the game that the cat is enjoying in said meadow. He is having fun. That’s the advantage of being a cartoon cat in the time of quarantine — you can go do whatever you want.

Toucher du bois

Toucher du bois, conjurer le mauvais sort // Touch wood, ward off bad luck

Today’s prompt is “wood”, bois.

“Touching wood” superstition seems to be almost omnipresent.

According to this page, “When there’s no wood around, the French say je touche du bois while touching their own heads”. Russians do that too, let me tell you. We also would cheerfully knock on a friend’s head for the same purpose.

The cat is probably Japanese, what with being a sumo wrestler, and doesn’t have this superstition. He is just trying to console Pinocchio, who feels rather down despite his painted smile. There, there, mi niño. Andrà tutto bene.

Si je n’étais roi

Si je n’étais roi, je me mettrais en colère // If I were not king, I should lose my temper

Today’s prompt is “king”, roi.

The words above were uttered by Louis XIV, who said a lot of other interesting things. The bird is a magpie of course, with typical love of all things shiny.

The cat is keeping his cool, but only just, I think.

Qualité

La qualité a tendance à se déployer comme des vagues // Quality tends to fan out like waves

The third item on my prompt list is “quality”, qualité.

To illustrate, I chose the quote about Quality from Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*. The original quote comes in English. I can’t find it in French, although of course the book was translated into it.

Here is the cat, spreading some quality around, because he has much of it. Also, he is spreading some waves, not to waste time on undefinable, because quality cannot be defined, but waves can.

* My former colleague once told me that he found a copy of this book in the DIY section of Saffron Walden town library while looking for a book of bicycle repair.

Donne-lui une bêche

Traite ton hôte en invité pendant deux jours. Le troisième, donne-lui une bêche //
Treat your visitor as a guest for two days. The third, give him a spade.

The second prompt from my list is “guest”, invité.

Found a rather funny Swahili proverb above. “Donner une bêche”, “give a spade” doesn’t seem to have any idiomatic meaning, just a straightforward one. I don’t know what is the most popular application of a spade in, say, Tanzania or Kenya, but it it was a Russian proverb, it would be something to do with potatoes. Planting them, ridging them or digging them up.

Basically, they advise you to set your visitors to work once they overstayed their welcome.

Médicament

Une cuiller de sucre aide à avaler le médicament //
A spoonful of sugar helps swallow the medicine

Today’s prompt (I generated a list of prompts for myself, they can be found here) is “medicine”, médicament in French. In search of a good phrase to illustrate, I found the quote above in a supplement of Le Figaro.

Of course, it is a translation of “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”.

Incidentally, we have severe weather warning here in the Canaries. Looks like Mary Poppins having certain difficulties keeping her hat on.

Aujourd’hui est une journée spéciale

Normalement, le chat n’aime pas l’eau. Mais aujourd’hui est une journée spéciale. //
Normally, the cat doesn’t like water. But today is special.

Today is World Water Day and the cat is making an exception.

Unlike us, he can come out of the house, and he used this opportunity to the full.

Judging by the spruces on the horizon, the water-lily flower and the general serenity of the setting, he is in Finland somewhere. Good on him.

Well, looks like this one-pic-a-day challenge will be at least as long as Inktober, what with the quarantine prolonged and all. I have to generate my own list of prompts.

Le jour où nous laissera sortir

Le jour où nous laissera sortir // The day we are let out

When we are let out finally, I plant to run to the mountains, to see my favourite place on the island, Caldera de Tejeda.

What you see above is the approximation of my trajectory. Although of course I might make a few more loops along the way.

Pourquoi?

Pourquoi continuent-ils à dire que les planches sont difficiles? // Why do they keep saying that planks are difficult?

Like many people stuck at home I try to exercise, if just a little.

The cat is also trying, but it looks like he has it easy. I am not even sure if he’s awake.

Come to think about it, he might not be doing the plank, la planche, but trying to touch his toes. The end result is likely to be exactly the same.

Restez calme

Restez calme et dessinez des chats drôles // Keep Calm and Draw Funny Cats

It looks like the nearest equivalent of classic “Keep Calm and Carry on” in French is “Restez Calme et Tenez Bon”. “Tenir bon”, in its turn, means “hold on, carry on, continue, resist”.

Well, I didn’t know that till today. Good stuff.

Quelque chose de couleurs vives

Je veux tricoter quelque chose de couleurs vives pour l’été // I want to knit something brightly-colored for summer

Well, this.

And if you really do look for a short and amusing knitting project, may I recommend you my soft rabbit toy pattern.

Check out my pics related to cats and knitting on Shutterstock.

оттяжник

Кот оттягивается // The cat is having fun

Let’s take a short break from French, shall we?

«Митьки» (Mitki; plural of митёк mityok) are an art group formed in St. Petersburg in the 1980s. I doubt it would ever become famous if not for a book of the same name by a Russian artist Vladimir Shinkarev. (I would call the book “eponymous” if it was named after the art group; in reality, the group was named after the book.) This seminal work contains a short lexicon of the most common words and expressions of Mitki. I’ll give you two.

оттягиваться	заняться чем-либо приятным, чтобы забыть о тяготах жизни митька, чаще всего означает напиться.	to do something pleasant in order to forget the hardships of mityok’s life, typically to get drunk.
оттяжник	кто-либо, привлекший внимание митька, например, высоко прыгнувший кот.	anyone who caught the attention of a mityok, for example, a cat that jumped real high.

Now оттягиваться is a reflexive verb derived from оттягивать “to draw back”, “to pull aside”, “to weigh down”, “to delay”, “to put off” etc. which, in its turn, appears to be derived from an unprefixed verb тянуть “to pull”, “to draw ”, “to weigh”, “to delay” and so on. None of these meanings has anything to do with leisure though. So how the meaning “to do something pleasant” came about?

Well, Shinkarev provides us with a clue in the very definition: тяготы, “hardships”. Thus оттягиваться is to pull oneself away from those hardships. Sure, alcohol helps, but a jumping cat (оттяжник) also can make mityok to forget about his problems. Moreover, our cat is having fun himself, so we can unhesitatingly say «кот оттягивается».

Cri de bonheur

Cri de bonheur // Возглас счастья // Cry of joy

Famous, if rather depressive “Не выходи из комнаты” // “Don’t leave the room” poem by Joseph Brodsky is all over Russian social networks right now. I found some translations online, didn’t like any of them particularly, but here is one, to save you a struggle with Google and its translator.

The first couple of phrases in French go something like this:

Ne sors pas de la pièce, ne commets pas une erreur
Pourquoi as-tu besoin du soleil?

But. I have a pic of a very pleased cat here, obviously. So, let’s forget the depressing poetry, and concentrate on Cri de bonheur // Возглас счастья // Cry of joy. It is only mentioned in the poem in passing, but it is important to remember that joy exists.

* The cat was drawn for a different reason, of which later. I just like to connect some unconnectables here.

Update: here is the reason why the cat was drawn — an illustration to a meme of a subculture of Russian origin.

How do you say #YoMeQuedoEnCasa in French?

Le chat reste à la maison // The cat is staying home

Today is a first real day of the quarantine and of course people still walk around using every plausible excuse to do so. Normal, although not necessarily smart.

To my surprise, I can’t find unequivocal French equivalent for Spanish hashtag #YoMeQuedoEnCasa (I stay at home). There are two suitable ones — #OnResteALaMaison, we stay at home, and simply #ResteALaMaison, stay at home, but none of them is nearly as trending. Not sure what it says about who.

Here is the cat, staying home and looking quite pleased about it really.

Update: A Facebook friend just told me that there is also #Restecheztoi, which is an imperative form, so I am adding it here, too.

Faites l’art, pas les courses

Faites l’art, pas les courses // Make art, not shopping

I think I don’t need to explain why the cat is wearing a mask and all that.

But I would like to state that I am issuing a one-drawing-per-day challenge to myself, while waiting for normality to return. I fully expect to be bored out of my wits otherwise.

I think I also do not need to explain what is happening in the shops all over the world right now. Seeing all that, the cat decided to rephrase the famous slogan just a little bit.