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Post by casimira on Oct 29, 2021 14:47:36 GMT
I do have a suspect with regards to the person who stole the copper tub. He is a neighborhood fellow who I had offered up many metal appliances etc. for scrap metal to sell. The last time he was there my garden helper caught him picking up one of my watering cans and she stopped him. He told her "oh, she won't even miss it". My helper told him. "C knows where everything is on this property".
As for the rummaging through the rubble, it could have been anyone. Miscreants, all of them.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 29, 2021 16:51:45 GMT
I do have a suspect with regards to the person who stole the copper tub. He is a neighborhood fellow who I had offered up many metal appliances etc. for scrap metal to sell Oh I hope you grill him good next time you encounter him "fishing" around. We have had a similar disappointment two days ago. A known person in the neighborhood entered our back courtyard at our business premises and picked up a large amount of steel lying around ready for welding purposses. Our watchman saw him and did absolutely nothing. No shout out "What are you doing taking my bosses stuff!!" But there are forces underground which we know nothing about.... I mean this: On my watcmans way home he might be stabbed to death. He might be threatened within an inch of his life and be beaten up. Then again he might be on a bribe....Nobody will ever know the truth. That is Africa 2021.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 30, 2021 18:56:47 GMT
My current pet peeve: Coffeemakers that use black plastic for both the body and the brew basket. (See Petty Personal Trauma…)
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Post by rikita on Oct 31, 2021 22:33:28 GMT
If we removed all of the improperly used foreign words from each language, they would shrink significantly. well, in german a handy is a mobile phone, a beamer is a projector, a box is a loudspeaker ...
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 31, 2021 22:42:16 GMT
Exactly. I think it is even worse in French.
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Post by rikita on Nov 1, 2021 21:41:33 GMT
there are also lists of wrong french words in german - so, according to the internet in french you don't put a letter into a couvert (kuvert) and a baiser isn't something to eat and the friseur doesn't cut hair and the regisseur doesn't direct movies?
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 1, 2021 21:49:23 GMT
And just about all Americans are convinced that urinals are called pissoirs in French even though the French use the term urinoir.
Actually, a régisseur sometimes has a role in the movie industry, but the director is the réalisateur.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 1, 2021 21:50:58 GMT
The worst is Pissoir...
I can't think of many words in French that come from Germany. Except from Hamurger, of course. Kaputt is sometimes used.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 1, 2021 22:08:41 GMT
Some of the German words used in French are not the nicest ones... blitzkrieg, putsch... (although coup d'état seems to be used more in English). And there is no lack of blockhaus along the French coasts. The French do not seem to have ever wanted to translate this word because I have no idea what term to use other than that in French.
Some words like leitmotiv, schnapps or schlass are perfectly fine with no negative connotation.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 1, 2021 22:39:58 GMT
Casemate bétonnée. Abri fortifié. Fortification enterrée.
L'art de la polyorcetique' lacks no words..
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Post by bjd on Nov 2, 2021 6:32:44 GMT
A common word in American crosswords is "cul de sac" for a dead end street, but in France they are called "impasse". The Atlantic coast here has many of those concrete things left over from WW2, called les blockhaus. Some of them have been painted.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 2, 2021 9:43:34 GMT
They are indeed called impasses but we use cul de sac a lot in conversation too.
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Post by rikita on Nov 2, 2021 22:23:31 GMT
i guess for me, a blockhaus would have to be built of logs ...
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Post by whatagain on Nov 3, 2021 11:30:39 GMT
My daughter got a nasty cut of the middle finger whilst cleaning a glass. She got her nerve reattached yesterday then some stitches. She will know in a few months if the nerve is still ok. It seems it grows 1 cm per month...
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 3, 2021 11:32:21 GMT
You mean it's going to turn into a tentacle?
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 5, 2021 4:44:12 GMT
That's awful, Whatagain! Was the surgery immediately after the injury? Best wishes for a good recovery.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 5, 2021 10:02:33 GMT
No Bixa, unfortunately she cut herself on Sat, Sunday was ... Sunday and Monday was all saints, so she was first stitched then properly repaired on Tuesday. Doc said there is a good chance to recover full sensitivity.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 5, 2021 16:12:35 GMT
Good to know that the prognosis is positive!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 1, 2022 18:01:52 GMT
I can't stand the commercials with Jane Fonda looking absolutely great as she says that she is more than 80 years old and daring to imply that it is thanks to L'Oréal products instead of being just a freak of nature with excellent cosmetic surgery.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 28, 2022 18:46:29 GMT
I am so tired of the more ridiculous commercials. There is one at the moment for a fabric softener called Bora Bora. They are claiming that using it is just as good as taking a trip to Tahiti.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 1, 2022 9:04:27 GMT
I hate being addressed on a first name basis, esp for a first contact.
Just got it twice recently. One is frenchspeaking, calls me 'vous' and introduced herself from my old HR colleague. Smart move, not knowing how well they know reach other, i treated her well.
Then i got a mail, 3 actually, on my first name and using in Dutch from a Dutch 'je' instead of 'u' Since the third mail was still polite but very direct and asking me to 'at least' answer, i did. I told her that it is for sorenchsoeakinf (frenchspeaking!) very impolite to use the 'tutoiement' and that she should also write in french or english to increase her rate of replies. I made efforts to be polite, and i think i gave good advice, but i didn't get a reply myself.
Strange.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 1, 2022 15:12:09 GMT
Most people who do that were trained in American business techniques. I find the use of first names by strangers completely offensive.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 4, 2022 21:33:28 GMT
We rent an apartment to a nice lady who complains there is humidity. She accuses the neighbour, whose terrace would keep water that then infiltrates her walls. She complains to us that it is humid and asks for a rebate. She complains to my wife that i am not efficient enough. She complains to me that my wife doesn't listen to her when she calls. She complains to the police about her neighbour who would scream at her kids. I sent her a mail explaining that we had to prove the humidity comes from the neighbour before doing something. That it would take time. And that i would understand that she leaves the apartment before her kids get sick in such an unhealthy environment.
Waiting for her reply...
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 4, 2022 21:43:09 GMT
Yuck! One of the reasons that I have never wanted to invest in real estate as a rental property.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2022 21:48:53 GMT
I sent her a mail explaining that we had to prove the humidity comes from the neighbour before doing something. That it would take time. And that i would understand that she leaves the apartment before her kids get sick in such an unhealthy environment. Ha ~ perfect way to handle her! I have to say that it sounds as though you rented to my next-door neighbor! This crazy bimbo is my landlady's half sister. She inherited a portion of the family property & my LL got the portion where my house now stands. Before I lived here HS wanted LL to pull up all the pavers in this patio, claiming it caused humidity in her house. Her house is very old & made of adobe & old, crumbling bricks. Ever since I've lived here she has made demands. She doesn't make them to me any more because I am extremely rude to her, but has harassed my LL to the point that LL now completely avoids her. One of HS's abiding complaints is that the plants in my patio cause terrible humidity in her house. I got LL & her husband up to the bedroom in my house that overlooks HS's house. There they could see that her roof is in poor condition & that there are cracks in the old structure running from the roof down into the walls, i.e., nothing to do with my side. Interestingly, her complaints always reach a crescendo during the rainy season. Now that we're in the dry season, her gripes have dried up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 4, 2022 21:53:15 GMT
Rotten roof vs. Bixa watering her plants! People are so weird!
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Post by bjd on Feb 5, 2022 7:05:42 GMT
When we had the Paris apartment our daughter lived in, we had a similar water complaint. Ours was on the 4th floor but two floors down, there was water coming through the ceiling and onto the bed of those living there. We were told it was coming from our apartment. We took up the flooring and there was no trace of water anywhere. A friend who worked in the business told us that in old buildings, water pipes run in all kinds of places and the leak could have been anywhere.
After a bunch of hassle, it turned out that the woman on the 3rd floor had a leaking washing machine and it had soaked the ceiling directly underneath her.
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Post by questa on Feb 5, 2022 13:16:16 GMT
I hate being addressed on a first name basis, esp for a first contact. Just got it twice recently. One is frenchspeaking, calls me 'vous' and introduced herself from my old HR colleague. Smart move, not knowing how well they know reach other, i treated her well. Then i got a mail, 3 actually, on my first name and using in Dutch from a Dutch 'je' instead of 'u' Since the third mail was still polite but very direct and asking me to 'at least' answer, i did. I told her that it is for sorenchsoeakinf (frenchspeaking!) very impolite to use the 'tutoiement' and that she should also write in french or english to increase her rate of replies. I made efforts to be polite, and i think i gave good advice, but i didn't get a reply myself. Strange. Really? You don't like it when someone uses your given names or the intimate "you". I don't know how you would cope in Australia, with everyone using nick-names and ignoring real names. There are also those who, quite logically, consider the plural of 'you' to be ' youse' pronounced as in ooze. If you expect the locals to call you Mr, be prepared for some ribbing.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 5, 2022 14:03:33 GMT
In Australia I would adapt, like i did in the Caribbeans.
But in european frenchspeaking countries, you say Mr and use 'vous'. In Italy you don't say 'tu' and in Germany you use 'Sie'.
Esp for business.
That is just cultural.
The guy doing lots of work for us says 'vous' to my eife, 'tu' to me because i ssked him to do so.
The boyfriends of my daughter also 'vouvoient' us.
You enter a shop, if somebody would greet me with a 'tu', i would leave immediately. Same for a restaurant. Same everywhere.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 5, 2022 15:24:23 GMT
Funny. I go to Paris on a monthly basis, down from weekly and have never been bothered by dog poo. Invisible to me. And i hardly see any dog.
Actually last week i exited my hotel and saw a woman picking up her dog's poo.
Can't say about US, last i was there was in 2001.
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