(Untitled)

[marlo]

I learned two new French words from Monica last night, both of which mean roughly the same thing: truc and machin. They both mean something like "thing" or "thingy".

It came up because we were talking about the cedille and nobody knew what it was called except me. Monica (who speaks fluent French because her family is Belgian) said she always

Comments

[yogurtrifle]

Truc is fantastic, but I overuse it because my vocabulary really could be better.

"Erm, eh... c'est le truc vert. Euuuhhh... c'est un boite."
"Bac de recyclag?"
"Yes. THAT."

[marlo]

I remember an acquaintance in college forgetting the word "sink". (English is her first language.) "You know... the place where you wash your hands?" It became a running joke.

[yogurtrifle]

I can imagine you flailing and pointing, so that made me giggle. Also one of my fav examples of me doing it in English was when I desperately wanted a blue bedsheet, but I couldn't remember the word "sheet", so I described it as a "skinny blanket. It's blue. A thin, skinny blanket."

SHEETS ARE SKINNY BLANKETS.

[limit_breaker]

Huh, never heard the word "machin" before~ wonder if it's a regionalism or if I'm just really awful at French. %) "Truc" and "chose" though are common.

I had a friend once ask for "the thing that opens cans" ... "can opener?" "YEAH!" ...............!