Pompadour

Wednesday 13 October 2010

épi - the French word for whorl

Last night I uploaded the photos but really was too knackered to write the blog. Yesterday was full on with moving the eight horses that needed to be seen by the vet and moving around several others, by walking, riding and boxing them in a trailer.

One thing I did want to mention though was my faux pas with the vet. As he was noting the distinguishing marks of one of the horses he asked me what an épi was in English. I told him that they are called whorls - little swirls of hair growing in the opposite direction to the lay of the coat. They are used in the identification of horses. He then asked me to spell whorl out in French, which I did, but then I was halfway down the garden towards the house before I realised to my horror that I had spelt it with an e on the end, not an l.

I rushed back with a pencil and wrote on his notes the correct spelling before telling him that the other spelling should not be used as that would mean a 'femme de la nuit!'. Needless to say he found this very amusing (the same vet who had had a laugh about the chicken in the waiting room), but I fear I may only have confirmed his opinion that we are all as daft as brushes.

5 comments:

  1. LOL, what a classic. I agree he must now think we are all mad. Perhaps we are!!

    By the way the chickens behaved like angels today and seemed almost pleased to see me!! Diane

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  2. I, too, have had times of faux pas. Like when I was passing the time of day with what I though was a lovely old gentleman, only for it to seep into my head that my attempts at chatting with him, which comprised of conversational sentences such as: are you married, have you any children, where do you live, do you have a farm, etc, all of which I had learnt from my French books, actually came across as being flirty. It was when he started snuggling up to me, and patting my anatomy in places I didn't want to be patted in, that I realised my error, because it would seem that he thought I was sizing him up as a possible bed partner. Cripes!

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  3. Glad the chickens are behaving Diane, don't forget us all when you are in Blighty!!
    Vera - what I would give to have seen your face when you realised!! Glad to have you backxx

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  4. Should we change the phrase to
    'T'is pity she's a whorl'?

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  5. Ah so they're whorls, the women with white chairs at the side of the road!

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