Re: Souliers (was: Some new Brithenig words?...)

En réponse à "Douglas Koller, Latin & French" <latinfrench@...>:

>
> May we assume that "sabot" comes from this as well?
I suppose so, or at least from a related form.

 What is it with
> the French and shoes? ("sabots", of course, are slightly different
> creatures) Back in the day when I was a high school student, we
> learned that "shoe" was "soulier". That high school trip to France
> when I pulled it on a similarly aged French kid, he informed me,
> after a double-take and slight smirk (or was it a guffaw?), that
> "soulier" was a perfectly acceptable word for "shoe".......if I were
> 80 years old. "Try `chaussure'", he said, "it'll work better for
> you." Well, chaussure it's been for the past twenty-odd years, and
> I've used it without incident with the natives (keeping "soulier" in
> the memory banks for reading purposes). Now "savate" is in the mix?
> Christophe, can you explain the "marked meaning" a little? I've never
> encountered this word before.
>
Well, indeed "soulier" is acceptable... if you were born in the XIXth century :)
. "Chaussure" is indeed the normal word, used by everyone in everyday speech.
Nothing marked about it. "Soulier" sounds really old fashioned (and has some
shades of "cuteness"). It's perfectly acceptable in a fairy-tale for instance.
As for "savate", it's also old-fashioned, but rather derogatory than cute. Of
course, "savate" and "soulier" you still hear quite a lot in the countryside,
where "soulier" usually refers to nice shoes, while "savate" refers to everyday
shoes, usually worn out :) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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