A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

Author: Charles Timoney
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141924276
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Vocabulary alone isn't enough. To survive in the most sophisticated - and the most scathing - nation on Earth you will need to understand the many peculiarities of the (very peculiar) French culture. And for that you need A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi. If you want to fit in with the French you'll have to know how to deal with sardonic waiters; why French children hate Charlemagne; the etiquette of kissing, joke-telling and drinking songs, what to do with a bidet, the correct recipe for a salade nicoise and, of course, how to convey absolute, shattering indifference with a single syllable (Bof!). Charles Timoney, the author of Pardon My French, provides a practical, pleasurable guide to the charms of the Gallic people - from their daily routines to their peerless gesticulations, from their come-ons to their put-downs. Read on and put the oh la la back into your French vacances. Your inner gaul will thank you for it.

The Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi in Early Modern Europe

Author: Richard Scholar
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199274401
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Book Description
What is the je-ne-sais-quoi? How - if at all - can it be put into words? In addressing these questions, Richard Scholar offers the first full-length study of the je-ne-sais-quoi and its fortunes in early modern Europe. He describes the rise and fall of the expression as a noun and as a topic of debate, examines its cluster of meanings, and uncovers the scattered traces of its 'pre-history'. The je-ne-sais-quoi is often assumed to belong purely to the realmof the literary, but in the early modern period it serves to articulate problems of knowledge in natural philosophy, the passions, and culture, and for that reason it is approached here from an interdisciplinary perspective. Placing major figures of the period such as Montaigne, Shakespeare, Descartes, Corneille, and Pascalalongside some of their lesser-known contemporaries, Scholar argues that the je-ne-sais-quoi serves above all to capture first-person encounters with a 'certain something' that is as difficult to explain as its effects are intense. When early modern writers use the expression in this way, he suggests, they give literary form to an experience that twenty-first-century readers may recognize as something like their own.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

Author: Devoreaux Walton
Publisher: Mountain Arbor Press
ISBN: 9781631835674
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
Have you ever regretted something you said, because you struggled to display poise under pressure? Have you ever been frustrated with your wardrobe because it wasn't an authentic display of your chic self? Have you ever desired to embrace each day with femininity, but felt lost trying to create a classy life? You need to discover your je ne sais quoi.As an elegance expert, Devoreaux Walton created a lifestyle company to teach women timeless principles to unlock a life of sophistication. In Je Ne Sais Quoi, she shares practical strategies for women to create a classy life, full of grace and gratitude. These are the mindset, style and communication skills you weren't taught in school. This is the first comprehensive guide for women to apply confidence and charisma to every area of their lives - with class.Just like knowing the recipe to make the perfect French pastry, Je Ne Sais Quoi provides simple guidance to enjoy every day with elegance.You'll learn: ¿ How to create an elegant mindset: Each thought you have throughout the day influences and motivates what you say and do. You'll learn how to master your mindset.¿ How to charm others with communication: Every interaction with someone is an opportunity to leave them better than when you found them. You'll learn how to speak with eloquence in every conversation.¿ How to add a touch of class to your personal style: Each item in your wardrobe should have a purpose. You'll learn how to carefully curate the perfect collection of clothing, shoes and accessories that showcase you with class.Je Ne Sais Quoi is an investment in your chic success and life happiness. After reading and applying the practical advice, you'll not only be a better mother, wife, sister and employee - you'll be a better woman. Finding your je ne sais quoi upgrades every area of your life.If you've ever dreamed of carrying yourself with an elegant essence, but been unsure of how to achieve it, look no further. It's time to discover your je ne sais quoi!

Stuff Parisians Like

Author: Olivier Magny
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101516712
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
In the tradition of the New York Times bestseller Stuff White People Like, a tongue-in-cheek homage to Parisians. To be mistaken for a Parisian, readers must buy the newspaper Le Monde, fold it, and walk. Then sit at a café and make phone calls. Be sure to order San Pellegrino, not any other kind of fizzy water. They shouldn't be surprised when a waiter brings out two spoons after they order le moelleux au chocolat- it is understood that the dessert is too sinfully delicious not to share. Go to l'île Saint-Louis-all Parisians are irredeemably in love with that island. Feel free to boldly cross the street whenever the impulse strikes-pedestrian crosswalks are too dangerous. If they take a cruise on the Seine, they will want to stand outside, preferably with their collar popped up. If they want to decorate, may we suggest the photographs of Robert Doisneau? To truly be cool in Paris, own an iPhone, wear Converse sneakers, and order sushi. And as they stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens, remember-they can't go wrong wearing black.

The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard

Author: Ollivier Pourriol
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525507167
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Sick of striving? Giving up on grit? Had enough of hustle culture? Daunted by the 10,000-hour rule? Relax: As the French know, it's the best way to be better at everything. In the realm of love, what could be less seductive than someone who's trying to seduce you? Seduction is the art of succeeding without trying, and that's a lesson the French have mastered. We can see it in their laissez-faire parenting, chic style, haute cuisine, and enviable home cooking: They barely seem to be trying, yet the results are world-famous--thanks to a certain je ne sais quoi that is the key to a more creative, fulfilling, and productive life. For fans of both Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life, philosopher Ollivier Pourriol's The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard draws on the examples of such French legends as Descartes, Stendhal, Rodin, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Françoise Sagan to show how to be efficient à la française, and how to effortlessly reap the rewards. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE

Émigrés

Author: Richard Scholar
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691234000
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
The fascinating history of French words that have entered the English language and the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases—such as à la mode, ennui, naïveté and caprice—lend English a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal about the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world. Émigrés demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, “turned” English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn’s complaint that English lacks “words that do so fully express” the French ennui and naïveté, to George W. Bush’s purported claim that “the French don’t have a word for entrepreneur,” this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional mot juste. They have established themselves as “creolizing keywords” that both connect English speakers to—and separate them from—French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete. At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, Émigrés invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe the French language and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst.

Learn French In A Hurry

Author: Laura K Lawless
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440516669
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
Sure, you can blurt out Merci! and Oui! Oui! and Garcon! as well as the next tourist, but in truth your French lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. That just won't do if you're touring the City of Light or sunning in Tahiti or ordering a la carte in a Montreal cafe. Whether you're traveling to a French-speaking country or learning French for business, this pocket-sized primer is your passeport to one of the world's most beautiful - and useful - languages. Learn French in a Hurry features: Common French phrases (days of the week, numbers, letters) Pronunciation and conjugation tips and tricks Grammar made easy Useful words and terms Helpful French-English and English-French dictionaries With Learn French in a Hurry, you'll master le francais right away!

Parisian Charm School

Author: Jamie Cat Callan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524704792
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
As seen in The New York Times -- discover what French women know about embracing that irresistible joie de vivre We all know that French women don't get fat. But their famous je ne sais quoi comes from more than just body type--something anyone can master: the old-fashioned art cultivating our inner beauty, confidence, and unique personal style, at any age. From savoring the everyday beauty around you to engaging in captivating conversations, playing dress-up, hosting impromptu dinner parties under the stars, and of course mastering the art of French flirting, the lively and inspiring lessons in this “syllabus” will help you rediscover your beautiful, fierce, romantic, engaging best self—to attract the best of everything into your life. Ready to embark on the adventure of your life? Parisian Charm School is in session….

Monsieur Mediocre

Author: John von Sothen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735224846
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
A hilarious, candid account of what life in France is actually like, from a writer for Vanity Fair and GQ Americans love to love Paris. We buy books about how the French parent, why French women don't get fat, and how to be Parisian wherever you are. While our work hours increase every year, we think longingly of the six weeks of vacation the French enjoy, imagining them at the seaside in stripes with plates of fruits de mer. John von Sothen fell in love with Paris through the stories his mother told of her year spent there as a student. And then, after falling for and marrying a French waitress he met in New York, von Sothen moved to Paris. But fifteen years in, he's finally ready to admit his mother's Paris is mostly a fantasy. In this hilarious and delightful collection of essays, von Sothen walks us through real life in Paris--not only myth-busting our Parisian daydreams but also revealing the inimitable and too often invisible pleasures of family life abroad. Relentlessly funny and full of incisive observations, Monsieur Mediocre is ultimately a love letter to France--to its absurdities, its history, its ideals--but it's a very French love letter: frank, smoky, unsentimental. It is a clear-eyed ode to a beautiful, complex, contradictory country from someone who both eagerly and grudgingly calls it home.

Pastiche, Fashion, and Galanterie in Chardin’s Genre Subjects

Author: Paula Radisich
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1644530562
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
Pastiche, Fashion and Galanterie in Chardin’s Genre Subjects seeks to understand how Chardin’s genre subjects were composed and constructed to communicate certain things to the elites of Paris in the 1730s and 1740s. The book argues against the conventional view of Chardin as the transparent imitator of bourgeois life and values so ingrained in art history since the nineteenth century. Instead, it makes the case that these pictures were crafted to demonstrate the artist’s wit (esprit) and taste, traits linked to conventions of seventeenth-century galanterie. Early eighteenth-century Moderns like Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699–1779) embraced an aesthetic grounded upon a notion of beauty that could not be put into words—the je ne sais quoi. Despite its vagueness, this model of beauty was drawn from the present, departed from standards of formal beauty, and could only be known through the critical exercise of taste. Though selecting subjects from the present appears to be a simple matter, it was complicated by the fact that the modernizers expressed themselves through the vehicles of older, established forms. In Chardin’s case, he usually adapted the forms of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish genre painting in his genre subjects. This gambit required an audience familiar enough with the conventions of Lowlands art to grasp the play involved in a knowing imitation, or pastiche. Chardin’s first group of enthusiasts accordingly were collectors who bought works of living French artists as well as Dutch and Flemish masters from the previous century, notably aristocratic connoisseurs like the chevalier Antoine de la Roque and Count Carl-Gustaf Tessin. Published by University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.