The other day, Griffin came home from school with a little project he had made. Well, actually, like almost all the other French projects, his teachers mostly made it and he just glued. It was a little ABC book with photos for each letter. Cute right?
But you know you are in France when you see some of the photos.
A: Annulaire (ring finger)
B: Bouche (mouth)
C: Coude (elbow)
D: Dos (back)
E: Expressions (expressions – but take a look – aren’t they scary?)
F: Fesses (that would be butt)
G: Genou (knee)
H: Hanche (hip)
I: Iris (iris)
J: Jambe (leg)
K: Kilos (kilograms)
L: Langue (tongue)
M: Main (hand)
N: Nez (nose)
O: Oreille (ear)
P: Pied (foot)
Q: Quenottes (teeth – I always thought it was dentes…)
R: Radius (Radius – the bone in your forearm – a bit esoteric, don’t you think?)
S: Sein (Breast – note the helpful arrow)
T: Tete (head) 
U: Urine (urine or pee – featuring Manneken Piss from Brussels)
V: Visage (face)
W: strangely blank…. guess they couldn’t find a photo…
X: Rayon X (X-Ray)
Y: Yeux (Eyes)
Z: Zygomatique (zygomatic) Yes I had to look this one up – the zygomatic is a part of the cheekbone. Specifically it is “th e arch of the bone beneath the eye that forms the prominence of the cheek.” And I thought radius was a bit hard for preschoolers. How this is supposed to be evoked by the smiley face, I have no idea. They had an arrow for breasts – why not this? And hey, whatever happened to good old zoo or zebra folks??? I think they were trying to go for a ‘parts of the body’ theme – but if you ask me Urine, Expressions, Kilo and Rayon X break that pattern anyway….although I suppose they are related to the body, in one way or another.
I hope this post doesn’t make me seem like a prude, because I am so not – and I don’t mind that 4 and 5 year olds are learning these words and seeing these pictures. I just know, without a doubt, if such a list was sent home with a US pre-schooler, it would cause quite a stir!
Viva La France!
4 comments:
That is a really funny list! OMG! And it's pretty wacky to have some obvious ones (nez) mixed in there. ....I'm happy to have my kids stick with the American ABCs for now. A is for Apple. Period.
Gotta love the French! A lot like the Germans, I guess, not really all that disturbed by the body and its various functions. Love the breastfeeding picture, I wish there were more of those in the US so kids didn't think it was weird.
Q: Quenottes (teeth – I always thought it was dentes…)
Quenottes is an "old" word that we almost never use anymore (except with young childs) ! ^^
You'ld better have to say "dents" (not "dentes" ^^).
Wow, it's impressive! The Radius and the Zigomatique really make me wonder why...or why not using for the r rat or robot (even I don't really know what the radius bone is!), and z zoo!!! Too simple, I guess! For the quenottes thing, it's a good word for the q letter, since it's a childish term for teeth...but only for small children. If you ever go the dentist and say that you have "mal aux quenottes", he's gonna think you're retarded!
Adeline (who definetely cannot register on your blog anymore...since my password, which I renewed Saturday, is not working! I hate computers!!!!!!!!)
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