Bonjour everybody encore une fois. It's Haricot Blanc, le blogging French cat.I've been asked why I blog in English.
Well to be honest, it's the language that comes most easily to me.
It's the one in which HMDT and Toowfu choose to address me.
The fact of the matter is that I'm bilingual. One of the pair (HMDT) is a native English speaker, the other one (Toowfu) is French.
Whatever the case might be, and whichever tongue they might choose, I feel more than free to ignore them at will, according to my mood.
That said, I thought now might be a good chance to share with you some of the diminutives I have to put up with from the pair of them, and some of the expressions or words I've learned in my short time here. Treat it as a feline dictionary if you will.
The most obvious terms of endearment for French cats is "minet" (silent "t") for puss and "minou" for pussy or kitty. I quite like those.
I get called "Ari" (short for Haricot Blanc, which is let's face it, a bit of a mouthful. And yes as you've probably noticed the "H" isn't pronounced.
That's often the case with many words in French, so Hiro, the "supposedly friendly little madam who still seems like a giant compared to me" I mentioned in my last blog becomes "Iro".
"Strike a pose" - Hiro
As for cat, well that's "le chat" (silent "t") for all of us in general, which is a bit sexist I find as it's a masculine noun. Still, there is a she-cat equivalent used for we gals - "la chatte".
Oh yes, by the way as I'm not yet three months old, I'm clearly still a "chaton" or kitten.
Time for din dins (yes HMDT really does use those words) becomes "l'heure de mon repas" or "miam miam" (yummy) and it's always served to me in my "gamelle" (bowl or dish). At the moment I'm gobbling up meals whenever I like as there are always biscuits or "croquettes" on hand and I have the feeling that's pretty much going to be my standard diet in the future, and they're washed down of course with "l'eau" or water.
When I'm purring (which I do an awful lot of the time) Toowfu tells me that I "ronronne", and if I'm feeling sleepy "j'ai envie de faire dodo" or I want to go beddy-byes, I head off to my "panier" or basket.
Admittedly it's not the most glamourous of beds and has certainly seen better days, but it's apparently a bit of a family heirloom and therefore much loved.
And that has to be a good sign doesn't it?
So there you go, a look at some of the words that might come in handy for fellow cats should they make a trip to France.
If you would like to learn some more, just get in touch and ask me.
For the moment though j'ai envie de faire dodo so I'm going to make myself comfy in my panier.
A bientôt.
Haricot B.
Some more photos of me in my "panier"
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Not only are the most beautiful little cat but are very kind to teach us
ReplyDeleteabout you and your culture. Human mum's papa's family was from the southern area of France but that was long ago. You look very much like a younger version of an elegant white gentleman cat , a cherished member of our family, who passed from cancer 2 years ado at age 18.
Thank you for sharing Hero with us as well. Love to you both.. Oh yes, there is a lovely lady in Japan who has 2 beautiful white sisters whom you may resemble when you are grown. Check them out at www.dietlifehy.blogspot.com. i am sure they would love to see you.