I was helping one of the guys on the team with his house yesterday, and I was complimenting him on reusing the turn-of-the-century exposed wood beams. Like Eric, he’s remodeling what was once a decrepit, hundred-year-old Normandy barn, and he’s kept the same wood, which gives a very homely, comfortable look. In trying to ask […]
I was helping one of the guys on the team with his house yesterday, and I was complimenting him on reusing the turn-of-the-century exposed wood beams. Like Eric, he’s remodeling what was once a decrepit, hundred-year-old Normandy barn, and he’s kept the same wood, which gives a very homely, comfortable look.
In trying to ask him how he would protect the wood, I found myself searching for the French word for “preservative.” I didn’t know the word for “lacquer,” it wasn’t “paint,” and I didn’t really even want “varnish,” but rather, the word for a wood-sealer like polyeurathane. Using an approach that works maybe half of the time, I decided to just frenchify the word “preservative” and hope for the best.
“So… after you’ve finished, are you going to put a preservatif on the wood?”
His by now familiar look of confusion and revulsion made it clear that I had not guessed correctly, which was doubly frustrating as I knew that preservatif was actually a word, one that I had heard before. I decided to try again.
“A preservatif, non? That which one puts on the wood in order to protect it?”
“Oh, oui, le varni, OK,” he replied laughing, using the word for varnish that I had intentionally avoided. Dammit. “Preservatif, that’s something totally different.”
It took me a few moments before I realized my mistake.
I guess we’ll put off checking the “fluent” box for a few more weeks.
p.s. Don’t miss today’s other post!