Dictionary has both meanings, Pierre. And a lot
of us have been corrected in exactly the terms
Steve was. But context determines a lot.
Mark
At 05:41 PM 3/27/2006, you wrote:
>nope, Steve — in French pregant wld have been "je suis enceinte."
>what you said "je suis plein" announced that you were loaded to the
>gills, drunk out of your skull, wasted. -- Pierre
>
>On Mar 27, 2006, at 5:07 PM, Stephen Vincent wrote:
>
>>>I just spoke to a friend who's newly pregnant, and I heard myself
>>>using the phrase "with child." Seems an interesting locution. Unknown
>>>in latin languages--the French are full when pregnant (and satisfied
>>>after a meal), for instance.
>>In my rather intimate experience in this matter, the French either
>>frown or
>>laugh at the expression, "Je suis plein", after a good meal. One
>>formally
>>says, "J'ai bien mange." (with an accent).
>>
>>I learned this first as an exchange student in Normandy - sitting
>>between my
>>16 and 18 year old 'sisters' (already infatuated, as it were) - at
>>the end
>>of my first lunch and announcing to one and all, "Je suis plein."
>>The girls
>>blushed and the parents looked confused at my whacky French.
>>Only later to learn from the sisters that I had announced that I was
>>pregnant. My turn to blush.
>>
>>Oh well - all artists - at least occasionally - on some level or
>>other "are
>>pregnant." I guess I was precocious!
>>
>>Stephen V
>
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