French Words and Phrases
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à la carte literally: on the menu; In restaurants it refers to ordering individual
dishes rather than a fixed-price meal
à la mode idiomatic: in the style; In the United States, the phrase is used to
describe a dessert with an accompanying scoop of ice cream (example: apple
pie à la mode). In French, it just means trendy. Boeuf à la mode for instance is
a beef recipe with ale, carrots and onions.
adieu farewell; literally means "to God," it carries more weight than "au
revoir" ("goodbye," literally "Until re-seeing"). It is definitive, implying you will
never see the other person again.
armoire a type of cabinet; wardrobe.
au gratin 'With gratings', anything that is grated onto a food dish. In English,
specifically 'with cheese'.
au pair a young foreigner who does domestic chores in exchange for room and
board. In France, those chores are mainly child care/education.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o48aZ_C52wc
More Words and Phrases
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ballet
blasé unimpressed with something because of over familiarity, jaded.
bon appétit literally "good appetite"; enjoy your meal
Café a coffee shop (also used in French for "coffee").
Chauffeur driver
Chic stylish
Croissant a crescent-shaped bread made of flaky pastry
cul-de-sac a dead-end street
Dépôt a deposit (as in geology or banking), a storehouse, or a
transportation hub (bus depot)
entrée literally "entrance"; the first course of a meal (UK English); used to
denote the main dish or course of a meal (US English).
• Entrepreneur a person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or
venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks
Phantom of the Opera History Notes
Paris Opera House
• Beautiful
• Many floors, levels, beyond cellar level,
fountains, a lake, a big chandelier and even a
ghost (Phantom of the Opera)
Origin
• Napoleon III – he went to an opera house, Rue Le
Peletier, and wanted a more desirable location for his
entertainment.
• Center of Paris
• Design Contest!
• 171 designs were considered; 700 drawings
• Charles Garnier, architect won!
– Marvelous design, carpet, wall paper samples, model to
scale, etc.
• Construction began in 1861
Napoleon III
Charles Garnier
Problems
• An underground stream was discovered (delayed
construction for 8 months)
• Napoleon refused to change the location!
• 8 pumps worked for 8 months…still streaming!
• Finally decided to build a double layer concrete
foundation over the stream
• Backed up the stream and turned it into a small
lake used as a reservoir
• Viola! Hydraulics could be used to move the
stage!
Problems (continued)
• 1870 Franco/Prussian (French & German) War
begins
• Incomplete construction: used as a
warehouse, military prison, arsenal,
communication center and observation post
• This war ended the reign of Napoleon III and
second French empire. Alsace/Lorraine
became part of Germany until the end of
WWI.
Opera House Details
• 17 stories tall
• 118,500 square feet *football field is 120 yards (360 feet) by
53 1/3 yards (160 feet) wide* 360 x 160 = 57,600 sq. ft
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Staff of 1500
2500 doors
80 dressing rooms
7 ton chandelier
Largest playhouse in the world
Seats 2156 people
1896: chandelier falls and a worker perishes
Gaston Leroux
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Wrote the novel Phantom of the Opera
Born in Paris on May 6, 1868
Very smart child; loved literature
Went to law school; didn’t like it but graduated
regardless
inherited a lot of money from a family member
lost the inheritance to drinking and gambling
Became a journalist and gained exclusive
interviews; later became a novelist
Published Phantom in 1910
Years Later
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“Phantom” becomes a silent movie in 1925
Lon Chaney, Sr. was the first to play Phantom
Lon was known as “the man with 1000 faces”
Born to deaf and mute parents
Did all of his own makeup for his movies
Other films: “Hunchback” , “The Monster”,
“Laugh, Clown, Laugh” & “Oliver Twist”
• His son followed in his footsteps and became a
famous actor in the horror genre
http://archive.org/details/ThePhantomOfTheOpera_364
Years Later (continued)
• 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the
play/musical “Phantom of the Opera”
• Longest running play in Broadway history
• Received many awards: Olivier Award, Tony
Award Best Musical, Tony Award
Best Actor (Michael Crawford)
The End!
Applause is appreciated, but not expected!
Homework! Due Friday!
• A football field is 120 yards long by 53 1/3
yards wide
• How many football fields would fit in the Paris
Opera House? Show your work. Round to the
nearest whole number!
• How many pounds is the Opera House
chandelier? Show your work.
But wait…there’s more!
• Turn in a list of 10 Français words or phrases
that are commonly used in English.
• Due Monday!
Coat of Arms
* Heraldry – is the practice of designing,
displaying, describing and recording coats of
arms and badges
*Blazon – a formal description of a coat
of arms or flag (describes what it says)
Http://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/identityguidelines/i
dguidelines/ttu/official/coatofarms.php
Poetry Meter
Meter – pattern of stressed (/) and unstressed (u) syllables
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U
U
Anderson
Four Basic Meter Types:
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2.
3.
4.
Iamb U / (Van Daan; today)
Trochee / U (bubble; Sunday)
Anapest U U / (tambourine)
Dactyl / U U (Holocaust)