Agathoune!

Although the country of the “French Kiss” might have a reputation as a land where daily communication includes lots of gestures involving touching or kissing, it may be surprising to learn that in most situations actual physical contact only occurs when greeting or saying goodbye.

In general, when meeting people in France, a mixture of handshakes and informal kisses are used depending on the context.  It is very important to use the correct protocol, because if you try kissing your boss’ cheeks on the first day of work it can get you into a lot of trouble!  And if you forget to shake someone’s hand, it can be easily taken as a sign of anger or disrespect.

Les Filles - “The Air Kiss”

For those of you living under a rock, a “French Kiss” involves tongue touching and should probably only be used between lovers.  This is very different from what I call the regular French “air kiss” that is used when greeting a woman where you sort of touch each other’s cheeks briefly on each side of the face and smack your lips in thin air at the same time.  In general, it’s just a “smacking” sound and not a real kiss.  However, just like the kind of wet kisses you might get from your great aunt Edna, there can be variations to the “air kiss” where it is sometimes transformed into a slightly moist cheek kiss.  Another variation is also inclining your head upwards, as if you are looking at the ceiling, and kissing sort of up into the air. This “high-air kiss” seems to be mostly confined to high society gatherings, a bit like lifting up your little finger when drinking tea.

In France, greeting women using “air kisses” is fairly common practice when in an informal setting (e.g., a café with friends, a dinner, a party, etc.) and when they are around the same age as you (or younger). However, in a more formal environment, a handshake should always be used during the first encounter.  If the woman is your manager in a business environment, you should continue only handshaking until she specifically says otherwise.

Although the standard acceptable number of “air kisses” used in France is two (one on each cheek), this can also vary depending on the area of the country.  Several departments insist on using three and there are many areas around Paris where four is the usual number (see my interactive map link at the end of the article).  Basically, if you don’t know, start with two, but if the person’s body language insists (leaning or alternating cheeks), just go with the flow and add a third or even a fourth, after which you can definitely stop.  If you get to five, then the French are just toying with your mind…

Les Garçons - “The Handshake”

Greetings between two men are simpler - just like in most parts of the world you simply shake hands.¹  However, in comparison to the US where handshakes occur only the first time you meet someone and basically never again, in the French workplace the whole hand shaking routine is practiced EVERY MORNING.  Extremely French co-workers can sometimes take it as a personal affront if you are concentrated on something else and inadvertently neglect your daily hand shaking or “air kissing” duty!

Bonjour and Bonjour Again

Concerning use of the word “bonjour”, it should ONLY be said once per day per person, and ONLY the first time you see them.  Unlike in the US, where you can sometimes say “hi” to a co-worker 20 times a day if you keep running into them, in France if you encounter a colleague in the hallway that you have already said “bonjour” to, DO NOT say “bonjour” again!  You are guaranteed to get a strange look indicating “you moron, don’t you remember you already said bonjour to me today?  Weren’t you paying any attention or do you care about me at all?”.  Instead, if you really need to fill the silence, then just say the word “re-bonjour”, which translates to “hey, I am aware we already saw each other today, but I’m not sure what else to say to you, so I’ll just say hello again”.

The Morning Greeting Merry Go Round

This daily routine of shaking hands and exchanging “air kisses” with every co-worker you have ever randomly bumped into at the coffee machine can be one of the more harrowing rituals of working in France.  You must always be sure to distinguish between regular co-workers (or peers) and higher management whom you would only give a handshake to, and, of course, you should never risk giving an “air kiss” to an upper level woman manager, unless her body language indicates this is what is required.  At times this whirlwind of kissing, handshaking, understanding of organizational hierarchy (to determine if an informal or formal greeting is required) and remembering whether or not you already greeted a person earlier in the day can be quite stressful, especially for those of us lacking facial recognition skills…

Just the regular morning greeting routine…every single day.
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YouTube DirektThe Song that Never Ends...

The worst part about all of the hand shaking and kissing is probably personal hygiene.  If you have just washed your hands after greeting all your co-workers and then another one drops by your desk, this newcomer is required to shake hands with everyone in your office, including yourself, even if you have never said more than one word to the person in your life.  And then your hands are once again contaminated with whatever he happened to be touching just before the handshake (and we all know the bathroom requirements of drinking coffee in the morning)…

Fortunately, in compensation for all of the sweaty palms, weak handshakes and wet fingers encountered daily, the morning routine also includes giving “air kisses” to generally attractive French women.  And thankfully, when you leave the office at night, saying a simple “bonne soirée” or “à demain” is all that is required!

The Party’s Over

Outside of the office, there are also other rules to be taken into consideration, especially at social events. Perhaps one of the reasons that French dinners or small parties can sometimes go into the late hours of the night is that the first person to leave has to inevitably disrupt the entire event because they are required, by politeness, to either shake the hands or give “air kisses” to every single person who is present. It’s kind of like a strange staring contest to see who is going to be the first loser to give in to fatigue, disrupt the merriment and go home to bed. Occasionally, if it’s a bigger party with lots of music or noise, you can sometimes slip out the back door by discreetly just saying goodbye to the hosts.

Finally, concerning the older members of the French population, as a sign of respect, NEVER do “air kisses”.  Always shake hands only, unless the person is an older relative or close friend that you know quite well.

No Hugs Allowed

As a last word of advice to the average hug-obsessed American, THE FRENCH DON’T DO HUGS! Although handshakes and kisses are acceptable, for all their talk about being such a touchy-feely culture, hugs clearly violate too much personal space for most of the French and should only be attempted during parties where people have had ample amounts to drink.  Hugging an unsuspecting French person is a very strange experience indeed, kind of like holding a heavy coat where the sleeves don’t quite know how to respond.

Greeting and leaving protocols in France can be very complicated, but if you have good facial recognition skills and are not afraid to stick out your hand or lean towards the occasional cheek, you should be able to manage.  Of course, always remember that if you mess up, acting like a dumb foreigner can come in very handy during any awkward situation, and the occasional badly placed “bise” can sometimes be a great way to break the ice.

And perhaps with a bit of luck, the French kissing may also come earlier than you expected…

Links

Extract from Friends, the one with all the Cheesecakes (unfortunately, I couldn’t find a direct link, but Friends fans will know this scene):

[Scene: Cousin Frannie’s Wedding Reception, Monica and Ross are sitting at the table, alone as a woman approaches.]

The Woman: Ross, sweetheart!

Ross: Oh, hey Aunt Millie.

Aunt Millie: Isn’t it a beautiful wedding?!

Ross: Yes, yes it is. It’s uh… (Aunt Millie uses this opportunity to grab Ross and kiss him on the lips. After she leaves Ross quickly wipes his mouth with a napkin.) Every time on the lips! Why?! Why on lips?!

From wikiHow for any kiss-challenged readers:

How to Air Kiss (I can’t believe there are online instructions for this!)
How to French Kiss (even contains handy photos for beginners…)

Caméra Café - M6 TV comedy that films 3 minute skits of events in front of a French coffee machine. With 700 episodes, this series may help with understanding the morning café ritual in the workplace…

Combien de Bises? - this is an interactive map showing the average number of “bises” per department. There really is no end to ideas for websites on the Internet…

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1. air kissing between men is allowed in specific circumstances, such as between close family members (father/son/brother/very close friends) and gay men [↩]

January 1st, 2011 | Tags: air kiss, Aunt Millie, bisous, Caméra Café, Cousin Frannie, facial recognition, faire les bises, French dinner parties, French formal, French hugs, French informal, French kiss, French kissing protocol, French social protocol, French workplace protocol, gay French kiss, handshakes, Hugging in France, kissing in the workplace, les bises, non-cadres, number of kisses, rebonjour, se serrer la main, smooch, TOW Cheesecakes | Category: La France, Traditions, US-France Relationship, Working in France | Comments (2)

When learning a foreign language, there comes a fluency tipping point where you suddenly stop mentally translating words from your native tongue and just use the foreign word instead.  For an English speaker, “a fork is a fork”; for a French speaker “une fourchette est une fourchette”.  When I am having a conversation in French (or am just in a groovy French-feeling mood), if you show me a cup of coffee, I’ll immediately think of “un café” without any hesitation, because that’s simply what the object is once you have truly acquired fluency in another language. 

This is around the time when you start to think and dream in that language as well, which is actually a pretty strange experience in itself, especially the first few times you catch yourself accidentally mumbling French words as you reflect on daily events!  Stopping the mental translation opens marvelous doors of understanding and insights into how other people truly feel and think in their native tongues.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that you can never truly understand a foreign culture unless you also speak their language to the point where you naturally think in it.

French is an incredibly beautiful, rich language and there are some key words and concepts that are completely untranslatable into English.  This post is to share some of these special words and try to catch a few fleeting insights into the French psyche.

La Gourmandise - Many of my American friends find it very difficult to resist a homemade French pastry.  They may be surprised to find that there is a concept in French known as “la gourmandise” describing this sensation, representing an overwhelming feeling of desire, lust and excess, such as “ok, my stomach is about to burst and I really shouldn’t keep eating, but that cake is just a pure slice of unctuous chocolate covered in an overflowing raspberry topping with the plate decorated in little zests of orange peels… I really shouldn’t…. maybe just a bite…. oh my God! … ok stop me now… too late!”.  Considering all of the incredible dishes served in France, anyone living here an extended amount of time has experienced “la gourmandise” on many different occasions.  Although the word usually refers to food delicacies, it can also be used metaphorically for just about anything you can do that goes over the top of “reasonable” excess (I’ll leave you to imagine different situations where “gourmandise” can be applied…).

Le Terroir - Historically, France has always been an agricultural nation and was a latecomer to the industrial revolution.  The French love of land, roots, traditions (especially culinary ones) and wisdom handed down from generations all melded together represents the concept of “le terroir”.  The term is extremely difficult to describe, but it is almost always linked to something that originates from manual toil of the local natural environment (usually harvested from the land), which is then refined into a product of incredible quality imbibed with a love of tradition, that can only be experienced and never fully defined.  So the next time you purchase some home-bottled wine and savory culinary specialties with the label “produit du terroir”, try to think about the generations of tradition and history that went into making this memorable delicacy and appreciate every last drop.

One more thing - “le terroir” should definitely not be confused with “La Terreur” (Reign of Terror), which was an extremely bloody time of the French Revolution when the guillotine was running non-stop, chopping off the heads of all enemies of the people (so be careful of spelling and pronunciation).

Coquin / Coquine - This is one of my favorite French adjectives/nouns because it is incredibly subtle and can get you into big trouble if you use it incorrectly!  When used with very young children “c’est un coquin” (this boy is a “coquin”) is an expression meaning that “he’s a very clever child that uses unexpected ruses and seductive charm to get attention”.  It’s kind of a half compliment because the kid usually manages to circumvent adult authority by doing something very cute to get his way…   When this adjective is used for adults, it is a reference to someone who emanates an aggressive, outgoing sexuality, but in a coy, seductive sort of way.  Remember that if your French girlfriend is wearing a sexy dress and you are meeting her parents for the first time, “elle est vraiment coquine, ta fille” (your daughter is really “coquine”) is not a phrase to say.  So as I said before, be very careful how you use this one!!

Dépayser (adjective/verb) - The other day I was having a conversation in English with a friend and I was trying to describe visiting a French mountain village and the concept of feeling completely disconnected from your usual urban surroundings.  Well, after stuttering a bit, I regressed into franglais and slipped in the French adjective “dépaysé”, which basically sums up the sensation of complete disorientation from your usual daily environment that I was trying to describe.  It’s a very good adjective for all of us French expats who wake up every day deep in the heart of France and are still amazed by the differences with our native homelands.

Although this post might point you in the right direction, to truly appreciate the full meaning of these words you’ll need to immerse yourself in the language until you finally start dreaming of “les gourmandises du terroir” or a very “coquine” French maid…  bonne nuit!

Links

To better understand “le terroir”, take a look at the photos from another age on the site of photographer Patrick Blan.  My mouth is already watering…

You can also order “produits du terroir” online from a handy-dandy website www.lesproduitduterroir.com

If you’re a chocolate addict, check out this video of a French chef making a warm, oozing “fondant au chocolat”.  Not as hard as you think!

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YouTube DirektFondant au Chocolat

Feel free to add other nontranslatable words to the comments section!!

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August 14th, 2010 | Tags: chocoholic, chocolate addict, coquin, coquine, dépayser, dreaming in French, excess, femme de ménage, Fondant au chocolat, france blog, french blog, french dreams, french fluency, french maid, French pastries, gastronomy, la gourmandise, La Terreur, le terroir, learning foreign language, mental translations, produits du terroir, unctuous, untranslatable French | Category: La France, La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman, Le Pot au Feu, Traditions | Leave a comment

It may come as no surprise to hear that France is traditionally a Christian country.  In every corner of France you will see a testament to its historical, Catholic traditions.  Whether it is the huge cathedral completely surrounded by an urban center, the forgotten chapel high up in a hidden mountain village or a crumbling oratory by the side of a forgotten hiking path, the country is teeming with reminders of its Christian past.  Even the towering peaks of the French Alps are frequently marked with huge iron or wooden crosses!

With Christian signs permeating the daily landscape and many public holidays corresponding to a religious celebration, it is somewhat ironic to see how little modern France really cares about actually living its Catholic culture.  Unlike the US where ~40% of Americans attend church weekly, only ~10%¹  of French Catholics regularly go to Sunday services, and I can attest from the occasional experience that most of the time mass here seems one step away from a retirement home.  Vocations for the priesthood are plummeting and many are now shipped in from neighboring Italy or even Africa.  The Church also has an image problem in France where it is frequently associated as a community of rich, bourgeois families and ex-nobility who are out of touch with working-class realities.  And in a more somber note, it has also been accused of Nazi collaboration during World War II.

Despite such a rich Catholic tradition, there are many reasons for declining participation in the religion.  To begin with, the Catholic church has a virtual monopoly on Christianity in France.  Although in bigger cities Protestant churches do exist, the vast majority of churches in France are Catholic.  Unlike in America where even the smallest towns will have 4-5 different churches and people tend to “shop around” until they find the community that best fits their spiritual needs, in France there is no incentive for the (usually elderly) priest to lighten up on the guilt, fire and brimstone of their sermons and reach out towards people’s real needs or modern issues.  As a result, many people who are searching simply do not feel “fed”, but rather driven away, and just give up on Christianity - after all, where else is there to go?  And the ones that have no religious tradition in their families would have no reason to attend in the first place…

France also has a tradition of secular, scientific humanism and direct conflict with the Catholic Church.  During the French Revolution (1789) many churches, abbeys and other religious buildings were burned, sacred tombs were pillaged and priests were brutally executed.  Even the heads of the statues decorating the doors of Notre Dame Cathedral were chopped off, the result of an explosion of pent-up anger at the abuses of power, not only by the King and the nobles, but also the clergy.  Traditionally, high members of the clergy (bishops, etc.) were usually appointed directly from the noble classes and had vast amounts of wealth and power at their disposal.  The Church also levied a hefty tax on all peasants (know as “la dîme”)², and the local population was frequently exploited.

During the French Revolution, the feudal regime was brutally uprooted and transitioned towards a democratic government based on universal principles.  Religion was seen as an obstacle to scientific progress and many churches were reinaugurated as “Temples de la Raison” (Temples of Reason), the goal of which was to bring freedom and equality to all people.  Traditional Christian holidays were renamed and even the Gregorian calendar was replaced with one based on the seasons and 10 day weeks³.

After the frenzy of the revolution, the French government⁴ realized that despite their newfound freedoms, most of the country was still very traditional and strongly Catholic, so it was better for civil unrest, not to mention people’s consciousnesses, to make some sort of peaceful compromise with the Church.  The famous “Concordat of 1801″, agreed between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, returned much of the confiscated property to the Church and also reinstated Catholicism as the majority religion in France while maintaining religious freedom for other sects (Protestants, etc.).  However, it also established government oversight over Church affairs, including such things as nominating bishops and dictating the salary of clergy.  And if your pay now depended on the new French state, it would be wise not to protest too much!!

Fortunately, in modern times, religion is now (more or less) free from state interference in France, but the brutal separation between the church and state during the French Revolution has left scars even to this day.  For example, before you are allowed to be married in a French church, you must first be legally married in the eyes of the French state.  This is why with French weddings, in the morning there is always a legal wedding ceremony at the local town hall presided by the mayor and in the afternoon the traditional church wedding ceremony takes place (if the couple is religious or at least has been baptized…).

The almost sacred upholding of secular traditions of logical and scientific inquiry also can be seen from the French response to certain religious teachings.  For example, most French cannot understand why the Pope insists on discouraging the use of condoms to fight AIDS, despite all of the scientific evidence showing a high correlation between condom use and successful prevention and control of the epidemic. 

Another recent example is the controversy over allowing young muslim girls to wear headscarves in public school.  Because a public school is an extension of the French state, it was decided that wearing a headscarf in school was too much of a religious provocation against the pure secularism of the state.  And don’t get me started on the French reactions to what are perceived as ridiculous American debates concerning prayer in school, posting the 10 commandments in front of government buildings or whether evolution really happened!

Despite the diminishing participation in traditional Catholicism, France still has an incredible heritage of beautiful, inspiring religious sites.  I absolutely love discovering hidden chapels high on distant mountains and often imagine travelers following these ancient routes, struggling up a difficult valley and offering thanksgiving to the local oratory for a safe journey.  There are also countless places of religious pilgrimage, whether it is visiting well-known Lourdes, walking bits of the “chemin de Saint Jacques de Compostelle” (Way of St. James) through the Pyrenees Mountains or discovering sacred relics in the chapel of some canonized hermit’s cave.  Touring active monasteries is also invigorating as they are frequently located in gorgeous countryside with delicious cheese, wine or other specialties to sample or purchase.  Many also have a public vespers, an early evening mass where the monks frequently will sing or chant.  So don’t be afraid to explore those hidden places on the map and try to keep the faith!

Links

Sainte Geneviève - Although the Da Vinci Code talks about the imposing Saint Sulpice cathedral, one of the strangest, eeriest churches I’ve ever visited in Paris is “Saint Etienne du Mont” (see my photo earlier in this article).  Hidden behind the Pantheon, it is devoted to the patron saint of Paris, Saint Geneviève, who in the year 451  somehow played the central role encouraging the population to defend the city against Attila the Hun (who incidentally decided to head for Orléans at the last minute).  With its strange towers, ancient interior and worn floor you can literally feel the centuries weighing down on you!

Saint Gervais - There are actually still churches in France with an active, dynamic community, and if you want to participate in an inspiring religious experience where some of the faithful literally walk to the alter on their knees, try out high Sunday mass at St. Gervais in the Marais.  From the outside, this cathedral is dingy and almost unremarkable (in Paris there are cathedrals all over the place) but during the Sunday services the first few rows are full of the singing nuns and chanting priests of the “Fraternité de Jerusalem” (Communities of Jerusalem) - nothing but believers here!

Abbé Pierre -  Beloved by his countrymen and extremely popular (consistently higher than any French president), in 1949 this dynamic abbot started Emmaus, a foundation devoted to helping the poor and homeless.  Always outspoken and a supporter of government initiatives to help fight poverty, Abbé Pierre was also a controversial figure within the Catholic church, openly supporting the ordination of women, married priests and the use of contraceptives against AIDS.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04204a.htm - Here is the official take on the “Concordat of 1801″ from the online Catholic encyclopedia.  To summarize, Napoleon held all the cards - basically if the Church wanted its property back, they had to sign on the dotted line!

http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/ - This site has a lot of useful information about the St. James Way.  I plan on writing more details about this pilgrimage in a future post.

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1. some estimates place this number even lower! [↩]
2. ”la dîme” was a tax requiring 10% of the peasant’s agricultural earnings to be given to the Church [↩]
3. the traditional Sunday ”day of rest” was replaced by “Décaidi”, the tenth day [↩]
4. at this time France was “governed” by Napoleon [↩]

May 19th, 2009 | Tags: Abbé Pierre, Concordat of 1801, Da Vinci Code, décaidi, Emmaus, france blog, Fraternité de Jerusalem, french blog, French Catholic Church, French Catholic traditions, French Chapels, French hermits, French oratories, French religious pilgrimages, french revolution, French saints, headscarf in France, la dîme, lourdes, Napoleon, Pope Pius VII, Saint Etienne du Mont, Saint Gervais, Sainte Geneviève, temples de la raison, têtes de Notre Dame, Way of St. James | Category: Administration and State, Civil Society, Education, Facts and Figures, History, La France, Money and Taxes, Politics, Religion, Traditions | Comments Off

Every language has its quirks, and French is no exception.  Who would have expected such a beautiful language to be so obsessed with cows!  Perhaps it’s due to France’s historical attachment to the land and agricultural traditions, but everywhere you look there are so many subtle variations of the word “la vache” (cow) in French, that it’s very useful to have a few expressions handy for the odd occasion…

 

Variation of “La Vache”	Description
Vachement	This is one of my favorite “vache” variations.  It’s actually an adverb and is easy to slip into just about any real enthusiatic sentence.  For example, “c’est vachement chouette!!” - This is “cowlike” (totally) cool!!  Or “Il fait vachement froid!” - It’s “cowlike” (really) cold outside!
C’est vraiment vache!	This is the adjective form of “vache” meaning ”It was really a low blow”, referring to a really mean, underhanded action.
Il pleut comme une vache qui pisse	It’s raining like a pissing cow!  In English we’d say it’s raining cats and dogs.
Parler français comme une vache espagnole	To speak French like a “Spanish Cow”.  This is how I used to speak French when I was just starting out…I’m sure many people can relate!
Vacherie	As an avid hiker of the French Alps, it always makes me laugh to see “une vacherie” indicated on the map.  This is the name for a cow shelter/stable in the mountains.  There are even funny variations, such as “la vacherie inferieure” (on the lower side of the hill) and “la vacherie superieure” (on the upper side of the hill)!A “vacherie” can also refer to mean remarks or actions (”dire des vacheries”).
Une sacrée vache	This can have a double meaning, either referring to a “holy cow” in the religious sense of the word or also referring to somone who is a really fat, uncouth person!
En période de vaches maigres	The expression describes a period of economic hardship (thin, starving cows) - this is in reference to the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine from the Old Testament.
Donner un coup en vache	to literally “kick someone”, or perform some hypocritical, underhanded action, behind their backs.
Une vache à lait	This expression refers to someone who is a “milking cow” or exploited for their wealth.  Kind of like a sugar daddy or someone who is frequently ripped off because they’re always willing to pay the highest price for things1.
Oh la vache!	This is a typical French expression of surprise.  Holy Sh!#$t - I can’t believe it!!
Manger de la vache enragée	Refers to someone who is going through extreme hardship and deprivation.  This expression can also be used to describe an uncontrollably hyper person who has “eaten enraged cow”.
Les yeux de vache	If you say that someone has “cow eyes”, it means they’re pretty much clueless (the lights are on but nobody is home…).  It’s an insulting expression, so don’t use it lightly.
Comme une vache qui regarde passer les trains	Refers to someone who lets events pass over them without any reaction, living ”like a cow watching the trains go by”.
Quelle peau de vache!	This is what people say about someone who is really mean, literally made of “cow skin”!

Vache Vocabulary and Culture

 

La Vache qui Rit - Everyone’s favorite iconic French cow, this is a brand of cheese popular in much of the world.  Individually wrapped, easily spreadable and able to stay unrefrigerated for a long time, “la vache qui rit” is the perfect, bite-size cheese for picnics and on the beach.  It also comes in a multi-flavor cube form knows as “apéricubes”²  with trivia questions inside the wrapper ideal for breaking the ice!

La Clarine - This is the clanking bell around the cow’s neck.  Sometimes high in the alps you can hear the ”clarines des vaches” carried by the wind like a distant spirit.  Enchantingly beautiful…

Ruminer - This is the French verb ”to chew one’s cud”.  It also is used in a metaphorical sense, meaning to think things over.

Transhumance - A special event in mountain villages when the cows are herded from lower altitudes to upper altitudes for their summer grazings (or vice-versa).  This is when the streets are filled not only with cows, but also sheep, goats and other animals who graze in the mountains during the good weather.

Le Pet des Vaches - Cow farts, need I say more?

Links

Vaches Photo Expo - An inspirational slideshow by professional photographer Bruno Compagnon.  Beautiful French cows in all of their glory!!

Vaches de France - A listing of the major breeds of cows found in France.

La Vache qui Rit - The official website of “La Vache qui Rit”.  You can register for your own personal login on the site and even play cow-themed sudoku and memory games online!  This is when you need to ask if modern branding has gone a bit too far.

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1. the French also refer to a person who is easily exploited as “un pigeon” (a pigeon) [↩]
2. ”apéri” cubes refers to the French before dinner drink “l’aperitif” [↩]

April 20th, 2009 | Tags: Bruno Compagnon, clarines, cow photos, france blog, french blog, il peut comme un vache qui pisse, la vache, la vache qui rit, les sept vaches grasses, pets des vaches, photos vaches, ruminer, sacré vache, transhumance, une vache espagnole, vachement, vacherie, vacherie superieure | Category: La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman, Traditions | Comments (2)