Re: USAGE: English adverbials 'the heck', 'the hell', etc.

Yes, les boules, or les glandes, or "ca me les
gonfle". This is a case where you use both articulate
and gestual language in the same time: normally you
lift you head and you put your hands on each side of
your neck, as if they were there two very large
glands, each about the side of a grapefruit. You show
your teeth simultaneously. (I must say I never met
anybody actually suffering from such a disease).

Another similar case is when you say "avec beaucoup
(une tonne de) guillemets". In that case you extend
your arms and with your fingers you figure the (many)
quotation marks supposed to enclose your sentence, or
expression.

These are things you normally don't learn in French
manuals. I don't know why. It's very interesting.

--- "Douglas Koller, Latin & French"
<latinfrench@...> wrote:
> Philippe écrit:
>
> >In fact, it seems that we French don't care very
> much
> >about hell. We use the word "enfer" to characterize
> a
> >terrible situation ("les bouchons sur le periph'",
> >c'est l'enfer"
>
> I ran your post by my native informant, and she
> added:
>
> Ça me fout les boules. (various tenses)
> J'ai les boules. (various tenses)
>
> "gonflant" also came up.
>
> She was a very good sport, and I set up the context
> for her before
> diving in to brusque language, but it was clear that
> we were
> tippy-toeing in and out of her comfort zone with
> regard to usage
> ("Well, okay, *I* don't say this, but I've
> heard....").
>
> Guess I'll have to buy her a pack of marshmallow
> peeps before the end
> of the day.
>
> Kou

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html