Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mot du Jour 5

Ahh, May, month of blossoms and soft breezes, a time to gather a few thousand co workers, open some wine, and go on strike.

French strikes are different from American ones. They are generally jolly, convivial affairs, with lots of marching and horn tooting, and wine. And they last only a few hours, usually... they aim to create disruption and publicity, without actually costing the strikers too many hours of paid work.

So here are a few words to hope not to hear:

Grève, especially ~ de baggagistes (i.e., say goodbye to your suitcase), or ~ de transports (i.e., welcome to Paris--it's a twenty mile walk that-a-way).

More fun: Manifestation: closed roads, placards, lots of chanting and banging on pots and pans. The CRS (riot police) sit to the side in their mesh-windowed buses. If they get out, it's definitely time to walk in the other direction.


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