Comprendre les questions

 

Je ne cherche pas à connaître les réponses, je cherche à comprendre les questions // I don't seek to know the answers, I seek to understand the questions -- Confucius

I don't know about you, but to me the phrase above is about university exams. You know, you get your selection of questions, and then a fog descends on your brain and you can't, for the life of you, understand what are they all about.

I am reasonably sure Confucius meant something else, something less practical, as he was wont to do. But I am no Confucius.

Unless I am badly mistaken, the diagram on the wall is showing the dreaded Krebs cycle. If so, the cat and his classmates must be doing a biochemistry exam.  No wonder he is just sitting there, staring at the questions.

Une porte ouverte

La lecture, une porte ouverte sur un monde enchanté // Reading, an open door to an enchanted world -- François Mauriac

The cat is very fond of reading per se, but here, judging from the illustration, he is reading something about central Gran Canaria. In which case I would strongly advise him to forget the book, go and check it out with his own eyes. He won't be disappointed, of that I am sure.

Celui qui ne sait où aller

 

On ne peut montrer le chemin à celui qui ne sait où aller // You cannot show the way to someone who does not know where to go.

 

The quote in the caption, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - btw, did you know he was a French aristocrat? I either didn't, or maybe I did and forgot all about it till right now - reminded me of a small episode from our two-year stay on Fuerteventura. 

We were standing close to a bus stop in Corralejo, waiting for somebody or something, maybe even for a bus. A middle-aged couple appeared, the guy visibly agitated, the woman resignedly trailing behind him. The guy asked us "Can you go anywhere from here?". And when we, reason personified, asked him where he wanted to go, he nearly shouted "Anywhere! I don't care!".

Mind you, I sort of understand him. Fuerteventura in general, and Corralejo in particular, is one of the best beach destinations I know. You can swim, sunbathe, surf or fish. You can take a ride on a boat, or on a dune buggy. You can drink cheap beer and eat in various restaurants, many of them excellent. You can catch live music shows, many of them free, and offered by the restaurants, the previous item on the list. But the list of things you can do is still quite limited. If you didn't realize that before you come, you might be quite disappointed, as the guy obviously was.

The little story had a happy ending, we hope. We convinced him to go and check what the local travel agency, specialized in one-day trips and experiences, had to offer, and he departed, the woman in tow.

Craignez la colère

 

Craignez la colère de l'chat patient // Fear the wrath of the patient cat

Although today's quote comes from Citation Célèbre website, it doesn't really. Partially because the citation doesn't deal with cats, but with men, in a typical anthropocentric manner. Partially because they say it is an Irish proverb, while it is a quote from John Dryden, quoting Publilius Syrus.

The cat, as we all know, is very patient. Look at him there, patiently filing his claw, as all patient cats do, at least according to some memes out there.

Rêver, c'est le bonheur ; attendre, c'est la vie

 

Rêver, c'est le bonheur; attendre, c'est la vie // Dreaming is happiness; waiting is life.

The cat is waiting for his dream of hanami to become reality.  He, unlike me, already did it at least once, but he wishes to repeat it. While waiting, he assumes the attitude of Zhdun, The Awaiter, closes his eyes and shuts the current humdrum stuff out.

Admittedly, you can do hanami on Gran Canaria. But it doesn't feel the same somehow.

Ses erreur

 

L'expérience est le nom que chacun donne à ses erreurs // Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde

We already knew that the cat likes cooking. It seems that he is taking it to the next level, with book signing and everything. 

Not everyone can extract so much value out of their experiences in the kitchen.

Deep and profound brain things inside my head

La meilleure façon de se venger d'un ennemi, c'est de ne pas lui ressembler. // The best revenge is not to be like your enemy

 

I am sure Marcus Aureluis meant something much more profound than the lack of resemblance between the cat and a chihuahua, but well, it serves as an illustration, n'est-ce pas?

Two observations:

 --  A chihuahua en face looks very much like Yoda. Same goes for fennec fox. 

-- As you probably know, chihuahuas are "hate and tremble" type of dogs. I first read this definition in Russian - "дрожь и ненависть". Now, just for the heck of it, let's translate it into French. Google Translate comes up with "haine et tremblement" as one of the possibilities. But a search on these words plus "dog/chien" doesn't bring up photos of chihuahuas, as it does with Russian and English versions. So I probably got the translation wrong. Surely the French have made the same observation. 

Well, three observations, actually. The word "chihuahua" replaces but perfectly the first line in the chorus of "Que sera, sera".

 

Allez, tu peux le faire!

Allez! Tu peux le faire! // C’mon, you can do it

Today’s (and penultimate already!) prompt is application.

And here is the cat trying to do a pull-up (traction), urged on by his especially annoying personal trainer app.

Not sure how he got up there. We know he can jump but I doubt he can jump with such precision.

In other news, the officials are now discussing letting us out to exercise in fresh air. They are pondering how to make it as uncomfortable as possible (“Should we make them all wear masks all the time? Should we keep open spaces off bounds? We can’t watch them there, you know...”). That can take a while.

Mais nous avons les deux!

Le paradis pour le climat, l’enfer pour la compagnie? Mais nous avons les deux! //
Heaven for climate, hell for company? But we have both!

Today’s prompt is “climate”, climat.

The quote belong to Mark Twain again, although, according to Quote Investigator, some people said it before him.

Here is the cat, inviting your to visit Canary Islands once it’s all over. We have both the climate fit for paradise and quite exceptionally good company. Judging from the view behind him, the cat is hiking somewhere close to Pico de Las Nieves on Gran Canaria.

Une tablette au fort pourcentage de cacao

Je ne connais rien de plus érotique qu’une tablette au fort pourcentage de cacao //
I know of nothing more erotic than a bar with a high percentage of cocoa

Today’s prompt is “percentage”, pourcentage.

The picture above is a reference to an illustration on the merits of bittersweet chocolate in the excellent book on chocolate by Sandra Boynton.

I am not entirely sure what sort of emotions the cat is experiencing, having bitten into a bar with, presumably, a very high content of cocoa. But it is certainly looks like a revelation of some kind.

Les gens heureux

Les gens heureux n’ont pas besoin de se presser //
Happy people don’t have to hurry

Today’s prompt is “people”, gens.

The quote above is apparently a Chinese proverb, although I am not convinced. «Счастливые часов не наблюдают» by Griboyedov expresses much the same sentiment, and I am sure many more expressions saying basically the same exist.

The cat is sunbathing on Las Canteras, Las Palmas main town beach. Being an intellectual, he is also reading a very clever book.

Beaucoup de patience

Le chat a beaucoup de patience // The cat has a lot of patience

Today’s prompt is patience, written the same in English and in French.

Pronunciation, however, is very different. Russian word «пасьянс», card game for one involving extracting order out of chaos, has its origin in French pronunciation. The games of this type, however, are not French but rather Scandinavian or German. Makes sense, the longer, darker and lonelier winter evenings you have, the more likely you are to invent such pastime.

In other news, our quarantine is prolonged till 26 April as a minimum. My list of prompts doesn’t go that far, so I will need to generate some more.

Ceux qui t’entourent

Ceux qui t’entourent, s’ils chantent leur chanson, chante-la avec eux (ou non) //
If those around you sing their song, sing it with them (or not)

Today’s prompt is “song”, chanson.

I think that when the quote was originally written, said or otherwise uttered, the utterer didn’t consider that the song could be an abomination. What if it happened to be Despacito or something?

Poor cat. He doesn’t enjoy it at all.

C'est une mauvaise chose à dire, mais ...

C'est un vrai cancre ; le professeur le met toujours au fond de la classe //

He's a real dunce; the teacher always puts him in the back of the classroom

Since today's Inktoner prompt ("roasted") doesn't really speak to me, I decided to take one from Transparent Language French Word of the Day again.

What a mean thing to say though. He is not slow or stupid, he is just dreamy. Look at him there, everybody is already gone and he is just sitting there looking at the last leaves of autumn.

Which reminds me of a lovely Spanish idiom "estar pensando en las musarañas" - to be distracted, dreamy, absent, but literally "to be thinking about the shrews". Why the shrews? Well, they are cute.

Fiddle fiddle

La maîtresse laisse les enfants tripatouiller la pâte à modeler de manière à ce qu'ils découvrent les formes et les couleurs. // The teacher lets the kids knead the modeling clay so that they discover shapes and colors.

Funny word - tripatouiller.

Do you remember your surprise at the physics lessons when they told you that all colors combined give white - and even demonstrated it with a rotating wheel of all colors? *

Our teacher didn't go into all that additive/subtractive business, so the lesson left me somewhat puzzled. 


For I knew perfectly well that when you mix all the paints together you get mud.

And if  we are talking modelling clay (or plasticine), the shapes you will probably get will be  sort of partial exoskeletons for everybody involved.

---
* - I know it is not necessarily universal, but I discovered to my delight that Timur got exactly the same demonstration as me - in a different country and one generation later.

C'est une offre plutôt alléchante, j'hésite vraiment à refuser // It's a quite tempting offer; I'm really hesitant to refuse

I am not sure why he wants to refuse it, but well. Maybe he suddenly decided he wants to go on a diet or something

Nous devrions reprendre le problème

J'ai réfléchi à la situation, et d'après moi nous devrions reprendre le problème depuis le début // I have thought about the situation, and in my opinion we should go back to the beginning of the problem

Poor cat. But not to worry, somebody will rescue him soon. Probably saying many more new french words while they are at it.

Phrase from French Word of the Day again.

Le niveau d'orthographe

Les dictées permettent aux professeurs d'évaluer le niveau d'orthographe de leurs élèves //

Dictations allow the teachers to test the level of their pupils' spelling skills

The cat doesn't seem to be very pleased with the level of his pupil's skill, don't you think?

In case you are wondering what is it the owl is writing, allow me to refer you to the original.

Well, actually, of course, he is saying ‘A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh.’

Un peu pleurnichard

Mon neveu est un peu pleurnichard ce soir, mais c'est parce qu'il est très fatigué // My nephew is a bit whiny tonight, but it's because he is very tired.

Another phrase from Transparent Language. I am reasonably sure that neveu (nephew) in question was meant to be a kid, possibly a baby, but somehow an image of a marathon runner immediately after a race popped into my head.

I can't even explain why - all the runners known to me are decidedly cheerful, non-whiny bunch. And tend to feel relieved, and not a bit whiny, after a marathon.

Go figure.

Timur tells me his number is "37".

Tous les fruits

Tous les fruits servis au déjeuner viennent du verger de mon voisin //
All the fruits served for lunch come from my neighbor’s orchard

As all the recent phrases, this one comes from French Word of the Day.

No, I don’t know how the cat gets the fruit from behind the barbed wire (fil de fer barbelé). Cats are ingenious though so I am sure he manages admirably.

One type of fruit from the neighbor’s garden deserves our special attention. Curiously, it seems to be the famous «развесистая клюква», a plant from the same universe where bears roam the streets of Moscow. Wikipedia only has this article in Russian, but you can get the idea from here.

Pictures related to cats, fruit and orchard @ Shutterstock.