Farther along on the Rue des Lions-Saint-Paul, I noticed a couple of things that reminded me I really was in the middle of a big city. Here's the first one. It has to do with parked cars — and local residents' complaints about where people park them.
It says, basically: "To whom it may concern, May we point out that stopping and parking [in front of this doorway, I assume] are not allowed. In the case of unwelcome stopping, we will call to request that your vehicle be towed and impounded. Cordially..."
And then I saw this example of what I assume is street art. It's posted on a wall that seems to have had graffiti painted on it, which has been painted over.
I'm not sure exactly what this colorful message is supposed to mean. It says something like: "Silence wears us down" or "...eats away at us." The verb miner is related to our verb "to undermine". On Facebook or other blogs, I've found photos of several other signs like this one the people have seen in different parts of Paris, but nobody says who put them up or what political goal or social cause is behind them.
I love that term "arrêt intempestif."
ReplyDeleteWe ended up in "la fourrière" once when we accidently parked for Friday night on a square where there was a Saturday morning market scheduled, in Lyon. I loved that less.
Betty, I wondered about translating the word intempestif. Untimely, inappropriate, unwelcome...
Deletesilence = death? silence = acceptance? NEVER be silent in the face of evil! question authority!
ReplyDelete(that's the way I interpret it, anyway)
For intempestif, I would add unlawful, in this particular case, to your excellent suggestions.
ReplyDeleteMerci, CHM. I almost wrote "illegal" for intempestif, but none of my dictionaries gives such a strong meaning for the term. Could this be a case of language evolving as time goes by? Maybe my Robert and Robert-Collins dictionaries are out of date.
DeleteNo, intempestif doesn't in any way mean illegal or unlawful. But in this particular case, illegal is implied. It's all a question of context. It is also subjective.
DeleteOne meaning given for intempestif is gênant. And I think stationnement gênant is illegal, so...
DeleteI liked the formal requirement on the Paris Metro to obtempérer aux injonctions of the powers that be.
ReplyDeletePatrick, I don't know if there is a French equivalent for the expression "plain English." The phrase you cite is obscure legalese, for sure.
ReplyDeleteKen, I have been reading your blog for over two years after I came upon it while Googling Saint Aignan where we had contracted to rent a townhouse for a month - April 2013. We were there and, for at least half the time, the weather was lousy but we still had a great time (you were in NC most of that time). Anyway, I still read this blog and about 4 weeks ago showed the photos of your trip to Burgundy to my husband (we were there with French friends and it SNOWED on April 27 - weather there was absolutely misearble). When he saw the church and chateau in St. Aignan, he said, let's go back. So we are planning another trip to France, probably our last ( we've been there 12 times in 40 years) as we're getting up there in age, but we will be in Dordogne, Provence and Lyon (where our friends live) this time. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHello Linda, thanks for the nice comment. I have a lot more photos of Burgundy to post, but I got sidetracked by my daytrip to Paris. I've pretty much abandoned Saint-Aignan, as far as the blog goes, for a while now, but I'll get back to it by the first of the year. By the way, try September or October for better weather than in April or even May. This year, for example, the summer was rainy but since September 1 it has been mostly beautiful. I remember that spring and early summer were lousy in 2013, but July, August, and September were fantastic. I went to Paris twice in July and took hundreds of photos. Best to you...
ReplyDelete