This past weekend marked the beginning of the ancient Roman festival of Fornacalia, which was a nine-day festival ending on February 17. Though the name may sound X-rated, the festival was actually dedicated to bread and bread-baking. So is it just a coincidence that it sounds like “fornication”? Yes. Fornacalia gets its name from the…
Translating Laurence Benaïm’s masterful biography Yves Saint Laurent (forthcoming from Rizzoli) was a fascinating and intense experience. For one thing, upon delving into the world of French fashion translation, I discovered more kinds of fabric than I had ever known existed. One saving grace was that for many of these fabrics, the English translation is…
With Thanksgiving coming up, I’ve been thinking about a confusing situation: the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. At the grocery store recently, I saw root vegetables with orange flesh and brown skin (which I’ve always known as sweet potatoes) identified as yams. Next to them, similar root vegetables with purple skin and white flesh were called…
(Part 1 of a series on sharing thoughts on words and their meanings.) I happened to be thinking recently of the English term “ne’er-do-well,” and how I like the old-fashioned word “ne’er.” Wondering how I would translate it into French, I thought of “bon à rien,” which corresponds to “good-for-nothing.” This got me thinking: is…