Re: Cases, again

We too can say 'une jeune fille de 20 printemps' (a
20-springs young maid). But we don't say 'un vieillard
de 80 automnes, or 80 hivers' :-) [we can say: de 80
printemps, on a little mocking style]

True, there is an irreverencious expression for an old
and ill-looking person: PPH (Passera Pas l'Hiver =
Won't Survive Next Winter). By now it could be clever
to change it into PPE (Passera pas l'Ete), since
15.000 didn't survive the last, very hot summer.

In Russian, there is an idiomatic expression: skol'ko
let, skol'ko zim ! (how many summers, how many winters
!) you can use when you meet somebody after a very
long time. It's somehow equivalent to 'Long Time No
See'.

--- Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> Quoting Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>:
>
> > Hi!
> >
> > Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...> writes:
> > > Yes, and when you ask :
> > > - Skol'ko let ? (how many years ?)
> > > you can get an answer like:
> > > - Tri goda (three years).
> >
> > Yes, a funny thing to count years as summers.  But
> only when using the
> > gen.pl. form... <shaking head>  Very funny! :-)
>
> In Swedish there's an expression "on X springs" for
> "X-years-old".
>
>
>  Andreas

=====
Philippe Caquant

"He thought he saw a Rattlesnake / That questioned him in Greek: / He looked
again, and found it was / The Middle of Next Week. / "The one thing I regret',
he said, / "Is that it cannot speak !' " (Lewis Carroll)

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