Noel’s Reviews > Bonjour tristesse > Status Update
Noel
is on page 47 of 154
Hm, “smoking” is French for tuxedo. (And apparently Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Russian, etc., because of its similarly to Victorian smoking jackets.) (“Je le retrouvai en bas, étincelant dans un smoking neuf, et lui mis le bras autour du cou.”)
— Aug 02, 2026 04:34AM
21 likes · Like flag
Noel’s Previous Updates
Noel
is on page 73 of 154
Deuxième partie. Have the next two days off so will focus on finishing it then. (The last part ended on a very tense note; it’s remarkable that an eighteen-year-old could depict such complicated relationships between her characters.)
— 12 hours, 23 min ago
Noel
is on page 21 of 154
Starting over. It’s not quite as opaque to me as it was six months ago. (Then I had to look up like ten words a page; this time two or three.) I simply HAVE to practice because every day I physically feel the French slipping through my fingers…
— Jul 30, 2026 08:28PM
Noel
is on page 34 of 154
Il me tenait serrée contre lui, soulevée, la tête sur son épaule. En ce moment-là, je l’aimais. Dans la lumière du matin, il était aussi doré, aussi gentil, aussi doux que moi, il me protégeait. Quand sa bouche chercha la mienne, je me mis à trembler de plaisir comme lui et notre baiser fut sans remords et sans honte, seulement une profonde recherche, entrecoupée de murmures.
— Jan 23, 2026 03:41PM
Noel
is on page 13 of 154
Sur ce sentiment inconnu dont l’ennui, la douceur m’obsèdent, j’hésite à apposer le nom, le beau nom grave de tristesse. C’est un sentiment si complet, si égoïste que j’en ai presque honte alors que la tristesse m’a toujours paru honorable. Je ne la connaissais pas, elle, mais l’ennui, le regret, plus rarement le remords. Aujourd’hui, quelque chose se replie sur moi comme une soie,
[…]
— Jan 22, 2026 12:53PM
[…]
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Noel
(last edited Aug 02, 2026 04:47AM)
(new)
-
added it
Aug 02, 2026 04:42AM
Even though it cuts my speed in half, for some reason I find reading in French intensely pleasurable—not even just because of the way the words sound, but more because of its orthography, the play of the accents across the page. Of course, it could just be a remnant of its former prestige status. In any case, the words have a golden glint to them that they don’t for me in English.
reply
|
flag
The French language is full of these pseudo-English words used incorrectly: un pressing is a dry-cleaner, un planning is a schedule, un footing is a jog, un sweat is a sweater, un pull-over is a sweater too, un dressing is a walk-in closet, when the French say il est très speed they mean something like he's very nervous or hyperactive. The French think they can speak English but they can't ;-)
Noel wrote: "Even though it cuts my speed in half, for some reason I find reading in French intensely pleasurable—not even just because of the way the words sound, but more because of its orthography, the play ..."My wife, who is French, says that when she sees a page written in English she misses all the accents and curlicues. It's true that visually English writing looks quite austere, almost like Latin, but that's what I like about it. Beneath the austere surface lies all manner of naughtiness.
Hahaha yes. Also un parking for a parking lot and un camping for a campsite. But also… un relooking for a makeover and un brushing for a blow-out. I really like how many of the English “loanwords” are -ing words that would be nearly incomprehensible to English speakers.