A quick French lesson for the day...

My father sent me a very good video on how to order coffee when in France.  Here it is.

This ignited me to thinking of ways of ordering other drinks.  Here is what I replied to my father.

There's an expression that I use when ordering at a bar.  It's called "un canon", or a cannon, as in artillery piece.  Like what Napoleon used to lob at the English, Spanish, Germans, and Russians.  What is means is a glass of wine (usually red, but can be white), drank at the bar, paid for quickly, and away we go.

There's also an expression I use, which cracks up the locals because it's an old expression and it's "un remontant", or a drink that remounts ones spirits.  That is to say, builds one's strength.  A refreshment, if you will.  It can be anything you specify after surprising the barman with such an old expression.

The last one for today comes from a famous book titled Zazi dans le metro or Zazi in the metro.  The saying goes like this.  I'll have some water of the rifle - "...je vais prendre l'eau de fusile".  This really opens their eyes if they've ever read that book and we all have an excellent laugh.  Conversations that follow are usually light and easy, almost like you're one of the locals, or something.  The drink itself is typically a water of life - "un eau de vie", but again, can be anything you specify.

If you've ever read Zazi dan le metro you might remember that the barman suggested an update to the expression l'eau de fusile.  The modernization suggested was a l'eau nucléaire, or nuclear water.  In the book this was followed with a question of why one wouldn't drink un amaro (Italian patent medicine) for one's health.  It would be better for you.  But that's a topic for another time.

There you have it.  Your oh so serious French lesson for today.  With a helpful dash of culture thrown in as a bonus.



  Here is a nice little wateringhole in Nice. They speak excellent English there.