In honor of Halloween, les choses qui porte malheur. (Things that bring bad luck).
Learned from experience:
1. SINGING MAKES FOR STORMY WEATHER, (ESPECIALLY YOUR SINGING COQUETTE)
Jeanne gets off the phone with her mom, who is coming to visit next week. She says, “Please don't sing for the two days before she comes and that way it’ll be nice weather.”
2. SMOKING KILLS FISHERMAN
I am at Bistro des Artistes, and a friend lights a cigarette from a candle on our table.
“Merde, you just killed a mariner!” says another friend.
Learned at the Alliance Francaise, Friday the 13th:
3. IF SOMEONE HANDS YOU A LOAF OF BREAD, LINED-PATTERN DOWN, IT MEANS THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU (OR POSSIBLY THAT THEY THINK YOU ARE A KILLER)
In my notes from class, I have a lovely little picture of a loaf of bread, and I wrote next to it “bread w/this upside down is for people who kill others,” so, you decide what I meant.
4. KNIVES ARE NOT TO BE GIVEN AS GIFTS
My teacher Pascale explained that should you ever wish to give someone a set of knives for say, a wedding gift, WHATEVER YOU DO, make sure that they give you a small piece of change in return, because then you can trick the evil spirits into thinking you were just pawning off some stuff to a friend, as opposed to CURSING THEIR MARRIAGE FOR LIFE.
hi! just came across your blog from the bloggies and love it. wanted to point out that it was the fact that your friend lit her cigarette off of a candle that's bad luck not the actual smoking bit. supposedly it's bad luck as my smoker friends have told me but i have no clue why. anyway..
Posted by: gleek | 28 January 2005 at 09:26 PM
no, no! if you give someone a knive as a present, you cut the friendship! and yes, they have to 'buy' it from you for a coin.
Well, that's what we say in Australia - which, if the English had arrived a week later, would have been a French colony.
Posted by: /anne... | 20 April 2005 at 05:52 AM
oui
Posted by: mrs bond | 08 July 2005 at 12:20 PM
ähm, it's a long time ago... but I'm pretty sure I know where the lighting the cigarette with a candle / mariner dead thing comes from. Mariners never earned a lot of money. To have tobacco/drinks they needed to earn extra money. so they made matchsticks for this extra money. and everytime you use a candle and not a mariner-made match a sailor will - so to say - loose his job. This is I think why.
Btw, I just stumbled upon this blog and i like it a lot! Bookmark's in.
Posted by: tinitussi | 18 January 2006 at 12:37 AM
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know how handy your site was when I needed to get some french homework done!
Merci,
Tanya
Posted by: Tanya | 19 January 2007 at 09:06 PM
was checking out for some french superstitios when i chanced upon this blog :) great site! it was tracy chevalier's virgin blue novel that started me on researching for more french superstitions; it's a nice read as well!
here in the philippines, giving knives as gifts mean you're wishing ill-will to the recipients. though it's nice to receive shoes as gifts, the giver should consider asking for a small token fee (even a peso is acceptable) so that the receiver will not "step on" or be disrespectful to the giver in the future. the belief about salts having a power to ward off evil is also prevalent here. and cats washing their faces are portent of rainy weather!
Posted by: dee | 25 October 2007 at 07:07 AM
Well, Frenchy,
I think your website is puhretty lame!
Posted by: AshleyTrixx | 20 October 2008 at 10:47 PM
FRENCHY!!!
My friend[the other] Ashley agree's with me pretty strongly.
Ya just didnt get the job done. I couldnt get ANY information. Just ah!
Posted by: AshleyTrixx | 20 October 2008 at 10:50 PM
I just wanted to let everyone know that Im not schitzophrenic, there really is ANOTHER Ashley!!!
:)
Posted by: AshleyTrixx | 20 October 2008 at 11:01 PM
Oddly enough, Russian people also share the superstition regarding knives as gifts.
Posted by: Crush-Zombie | 16 January 2009 at 04:12 PM
Dear Dee and Ashley:
This is a blog. Not an encyclopedia. It is fun, kicky, and sometimes informative. If you need to do homework, go read a book. If you have enough time to be trolling about on the Internet randomly kicking bloggers, go get a life.
-- Fountaingirl (who btw has a ph.d. and is a professor and knows from books, and fun reads, and LAAAAAAZZZZYYY students who have no reason to be critical of anyone else.)
Posted by: fountaingirl | 19 January 2009 at 06:08 PM
OOPS, Dee, apologies. There are too many Ashleys to keep track of. Snarking above not meant for you.
Ashleys, please play rock-paper-scissors to decide who should be embarrassed and in what order.
Posted by: fountaingirl | 19 January 2009 at 06:10 PM