A different word for everything
My life in a second language world gives personal relevance to the quote from Steve Martin – Those French, they’ve got a different word for everything.” Every day, I get to puzzle my way to the top of the pile, and the next day start all over again. Sisyphus is my idol.
This anecdote doesn’t really involve me, though, unless Googling counts. My son has a new job, in the restaurant business. I didn’t even know he had applied, but when the subject of where we might go to eat came up, the name of an upscale establishment was immediately set aside, “because…”. I’m not one to ask. On to the next name on the list. Anyhow, he followed with a request that we purchase him some new pants, in the “queue-de-poule” style.
Don’t bother with a dictionary; it translates as “hentail” in polite terms. The immediate image was of a “pope’s nose” but that is just my father talking from the grave. Let’s remain polite. My knowledge of pant styles stops at blue jeans, so Google was called into action. Surprisingly, we found nothing of consequence. We tried synonyms, homonyms, references from local pant store websites. Nothing. Calls to stores on Saturday evening gained the fact that answering machines are always available to help out.
By luck, deep in the website of a restaurant supply house, my son found the reference “pied-de-poule”. Close enough that the reason for reading back phone messages was invented. We even had an idea of cost, colour and the tidbit that these pants would have an elastic waist and two lateral pockets. No etymology, though.
Earlier this afternoon, son and mother went out shopping, with only one phone call home to find out the name of the website. (There, finally a reason for the history button on modern browsers). As it turns out, the restaurant supply industry does not keep restaurant hours. I guess the cooks of this world know enough to order ahead when they require a new stove, or pot, or pants with chicken names. So, the search for the special apparel will resume tomorrow; same channel, same city. I’ll stay tuned.
