- Given the vocabulary items pictured above, last night I most likely fell asleep listening to the beginning of Céline’s _________________________.
- Given the posts that I have been writing lately, I have most recently probably read Queneau’s __________________________________.
French notes
- le planton: orderly. In the military sense of the word, not the hospital sense of the word–a hospital orderly is an aide-soignant(e).
- l’ambuscade (f.): ambush.
- en embuscade: in waiting, in ambush.
- le régiment: regiment.
- le régiment: military service. (Native speakers: is this specifically obligatory military service?)
- l’escadron (m.): squadron.
- la vérole: smallpox; (slang) syphilis.
- la décrue: decrease in water level, subsiding of floodwaters.
- le sapin: pine tree, fir (tree).
- estompé: (of memory or color) faded, dimmed, dulled
- le mélo: melodrama. (Native speakers: is this pejorative?)
- l’accoutrement: clothes that are amusing. Get-up.
Answers
- Voyage au bout de la nuit. It starts with Bardamu enlisting in the French army during World War I.
- Exercices de style, the same story told 99 times in 99 different ways, which I realized I was doing with this series of posts presented as different kinds of tests.
Zipf's Law 
Kind of you to give the answers of your questions . But whom are you asking these questions to ? I hope it’s not to yourself (In case I got a prescription for you in this quiet and calm rural residence ) .
Mélo is usually pejorative yes, and le régiment was said colloquially by older generations to refer to the compulsory military service . “C’est un copain de régiment”, or “C’est là que j’ai fait mon régiment” were sentences I heard many times yesteryear .
If you’re fond of exercices de style, what would you think of the 1968 book called “La disparition”, by Georges Pérec”, member like Queneau of the Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Populaire) . It is a 300 pages book without ONE only “e”, a complete disappearance of the most frequently used letter in French (and in English too ?). And a super Greek word for your favourite collection : this kind of exercises is called a lipogram .
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Thank you for the information about mélo and régiment. I write my little conneries of all sorts for the joy of it, more so than for anyone in particular. Thank you for lipogram–it is a WONDERFUL word!
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You freewheeling conneries are a pleasure for the mind, don’t worry .
Impressive exploit this Pérec’s book, isn’it ? Some guys do struggle hard hey ?
There is a jewel of the world’s greatest songs, French poetry at its finest, that tells about the “régiment” . Here it is :
“En revenant du régiment
J’ai rencontré un enterr’ment
Crénom de Dieu ! J’étais content,
C’était celui d’mon adjudant” .
Shakespeare and Victor Hugo are matched, no doubt .
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I looked around a bit trying to find the name of this so that I could find a recording, but wasn’t successful. I did, however, run across a page with the words to a lot of WWI-era songs du même acabit–very cool. Thanks!
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Good list of vocabulary that’s not often used. Do you file away your cards or something? If so, I admire your organisation. I have zillions of scribbles on whatever scrap of paper was on hand, which I end up trashing about twice a year as by then I don’t remember where the words came from. Have I horrified you? Anyway please go to my latest post and consider becoming a full-fledged Versatile Blogger. You don’t do these? Always a first time 🙂
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Not horrified at all! 🙂 Yes, I have literally thousands of index cards sitting in boxes and bags here and there. Lately I’ve been taking the month of December to review the previous year’s cards. This year I went kinda crazy in the vocabulary department and could only bring about 6 months’ worth back to France when I returned from the US this fall. It’s depressing to see how much I forget, but it’s an interesting walk down Memory Lane, since I usually do remember the context in which I came across a word!
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December reviews of the past year can be overwhelming!
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