French TV

William Lememyrgie

What is on French TV?

Every morning we watch the daily breakfast show just as you would in the UK. The equivalent to Day Break is Telematin which is broadcast from Paris. The programme presenter is called William Lememyrgie and the show has been presented since 1985. The news casts are presented at 7:00am, 7:30am and 8:00am. They discuss topics such as Culture, Lifestyle, Health and employment, amongst other things.



Some of the topics this morning were the on iphone. On culture they discussed a new trend in the construction of houses.  What they were saying was, creating spaces for healthy children separated from parents is now the current trend.  There is a house constructed in the Paris region were each family member lives in a small tower to protect her privacy, sounds good to me.

There always seems to a lot of art discussed with lots of photos of naked men and women.

Carinne Teyssandier

Then we have Gourmet, or cooking, and they have the same woman on giving a new recipe. Today is was Duct Breast in salt crust and fig bread, yum yum. Let me tell you, this woman has such a lovely big smile she just brightens up your morning to watch her.

One other thing to note is, when a columnist comes on to discuss his or her topic, they always play an appropriate song to go with the topic being discussed.


So I have to tell you the songs played this morning.

Banana boat song - Harry Belafonte
Three little birds - Bob Marley
Turn on turn in cop out - Freak Power
Ring my bell - Saian Supa Crew
Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
Goldfinger - John barry
My Girl Josephine - Super Cat

So all in all its not a bad start to the day, of not everything is understood, and its a shame because it would give a lot more insight the the French lifestyle.

Quote for today:
'Be willing to be a beginner every single morning'

Madame or Mademoiselle?

I just read an article about a group of women's rights activists here in France, who are campaigning to get the word 'Mademoiselle' taken off administration forms.  Their argument is that men are 'Monsieur' all their lives, but women are either Madame or Mademoiselle. They argue, that the terminology, is linked solely to the marital status.  Mind you I can see there point, but I think it would be a shame to drop the word 'Mademoiselle' from the French language. Although its not the word they are against, (its actually considered a compliment to older women, to be called Mademoiselle), I should be so lucky,  what these feminists are saying is, on administration forms, tax forms, ballot forms, it should not be obligatory to divulge ones marital status for one gender, and not another.  It seems that in French-speaking Canada 'Mademoiselle' has long been confined to addressing schoolgirls only.

But surly in Britain and America, you would be asked 'is that Miss or Mrs' or is that still the case?  Mind you, I don't think a man is asked 'are you married' but I suppose it depends on the circumstances.  I don't think that when a man fills in administration forms, tax forms or ballot forms they are asked if they are married, or are they?  Although in France, men are not asked to divulge their marital status.  Maybe they should just have a box to tick for men and women 'are you married? a yes or no box, and that would solve it.  Or maybe they should have forms for 'single' and 'married' people.

Mind you I hate being called Madame, it conjures up an old maid image for me. In France they don't have an equivalent for Ms, so maybe they should have that in French, I wonder what they would call it?

If you look up the dictionary the word 'Madame' means 'My Lady' the feminine form of 'Lord' but 'Madame' can also refer to a woman who runs a brothel, maybe thats why I don't like being called it.

Also when I was young older people would refer to young ones as being 'a wee Madame', which meant you were too grown-up for your age.









Quote for today:
'When you call me Madame, smile'