mœurs (meur) nom, féminine, pl.


1 ways or way of life, manners, customs, mores of a person or society; habits (of animals)

Le pillage n'est pas dans nos mœurs françaises. – Las Cases Pillage is not among our French customs.
J'ai longuement étudié les mœurs des étoiles. -Claudel I have for a long time studied the ways of the stars.

2. morals

bonne mœurs = morality ; Gens sans mœurs = unprincipaled people
avoir des mœurs = to have high principles

“The French word translated as “mores” is mœurs and derives from the Latin mores." - Stephen D. Grant, Sanford Kessler, from a footnote to the introduction of Tocquevilles Democracy in America, p. 1 (2000)

Proverbe : Autres temps, autres mœurs Other days, other ways; or Times change.

« Parlez-moi de notre temps. Comme tout s'est dépravé depuis, le goût et
les mœurs !» – Un poète élégiaque, http://www.mathcs.duq.edu/~juola/problems/problemI/Isample04.txt
« Talk to me of our times. When everything is depraved, taste and manners!

« Et la chute des arts suit la décadence des moeurs. » -Boileau
And the decline of the arts matches the decadence of morals.”

"Nous parlions des mœurs d’autrefois et des mœurs d’aujourd’hui..." Justin Lhéisson (Port-au-Prince, 1873-1907), Zoune chez sa ninnaine (1906)
We used to speak of the manners of other times and the manners of today.

« Mon vieil ami m’expliquait les mœurs des animaux sauvages et m’ initiait aux secrets de la chasse à trapper. . . » -Joseph-Charles Taché, Forestiers et voyageurs, p. 137
My old friend used to explain to me the habits of wild animals and initiate me into the secrets of trapping. . .

“Sometimes when choreographers try to adapt great literature they take such pains to distill and refine a work that the dance they create, though filled with movement, looks curiously lifeless. That, unfortunately, can be said of Philippe Saire's ''Vie et Moeurs du Cameleon Nocturne/The Life and Morals of a Night Chameleon,'' which Cie Philippe Saire presented on Friday night at St. Mark's Church. . . “ -Jack Anderson, The New York Times

“He is not interested, ultimately, in the propriety of an ethic, but in les moeurs, the actual, essential behavior of men.'' -The New York Times Magazine, June 20, 1982

I love that "œ" sound. We don't have that in English and it's hard to explain how to make it

On l'appelle "e dans l'o" .

mœurs = "m, e dans l'o, u,r,s"

My ancient high school French text says [œ] is the same basic sound as "a" in english "care", except you have to round your lips for the french sound.

That's a good way to remember it

au parfum suave http://www.leblogjardin.com/images/strawberryhill.jpg

suave adjectif

1. smooth (voice), mild (cigar)
2. sweet, pleasant (taste, music)
3. graceful (lines, colors, motions)

«SUAVE, . . . Dont l' extrême douceur produit une impression subtile et agréable sur l'un des cinq sens. » -www.ATLIF.FR
. . . of an extremely pleasant and subtle sensation produced upon one of the five senses.

related: suavité nom, féminin : the quality of being suave

synonymes: agréable, délectable, délicat, délicieux, doux, gracieux, moelleux, mignon,onctueux, raissant, tendre.

« Maria de Medeiros, une voix de velours : . . . . Sa voix suave livrera langoureusement les quatorze morceaux de son album A Little More Blue. . . . » - Le Figaro, 22 March 2008
Maria de Medeiros, a velvet voice : . . . . Her smooth voice will languorously deliver the fourteen pieces of her album A Little More Blue. . . .”

“ Ce moment leur était doux. La suave quiétude qui suit les bons repas reposait les esprits. » -Hamp, Marée, 190, p. 74
This moment was sweet to them. The pleasant quietness which followed their good meals would put their minds at ease.

«Seigneur! Seigneur! dit-elle avec une angélique suavité de geste et d'intonation, pardonnez à cet homme, comme je lui pardonne moi-même. » Alexandre Dumas (Père), Les Trois Mousquetaires
Lord! Lord! she said with an angelic gracefulness of gesture and sweet intonation, pardon this man, just as I, myself, pardon him.

marcher ( mahr-sheh) verbe

to walk, pace, march


Maman les p'tits bateaux

Mama the little boats on the water
Do they have legs -?
Oh yes my big id-iot
For if they had none,
Then they would not go.

Marching straight before them,
A-round the world they’re go-ing.
And since the world is round,
They all will come back home.

marcher also means "to function"

I have said this LOTS- "Ça ne marche pas!!"

That's true. And in the song above the child hasn't figured that out yet and so asks if boats have legs. It makes the song interesting - the word-play.

I have a beautiful S-10 Chevy truck sitting in my driveway, but it won't walk! It needs a battery. :) (not legs)

/dAb

afficher (ah-feesheh), verb

1. to post (a notice or poster)
2. to show, to make known, demonstrate, make a display

s’afficher, to show off, attract attention
affiche, fem. a poster



Obama et Clinton affichent leur unité Obama and Clinton display their unity

Philippe Gélie, Le Figaro, 27/06/2008

Barack Obama et Hillary Clinton, vendredi à l'aéroport de Washington, avant de s'envoler ensemble vers la petite ville d'Unity, dans le New Hampshire.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Friday at Washington’s airport, before flying together to the small town of Unity, New Hampshire.

« Il ne faut pas rigoler avec vos photos d'identité." Le mot d' ordre est affiché sur tous les Photomatons, et des plaquettes de présentation, éditées par le ministère de l'intérieur, montrent quelles sont les bonnes attitudes à prendre, et celles qui seront refusées par l' administration. » -Jean Marc Manach, Le Monde, 20 juin 2008

You should not laugh for your identity photo. The rule is posted on all the photo booths, and in brochures published by the minister of the interior showing which poses to assume and which will not be accepted by the officials.


Et quand un jeune Congolais au visage doux affiche le portrait de Ben Laden sur son tee-shirt, cette galerie de portraits grinçante et bien sentie devient carrément inquiétante. –Le Monde, 14 juin 2008 http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-1039984,0.html

And when a young Congolese with a gentle face displays a portrait of Ben Laden on his t-shirt, this gallery of squealing, feeling-good portraits becomes out-right disquieting.


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