Saturday, September 21, 2013

Beware of dog

That's what this sign means, although not literally. In French, méchant means mean or dangerous when used to describe an animal. People can be méchant (nasty, spiteful) as well. Sometimes you'll see a sign that says chien lunatique; the word lunatique derives from lune (moon) to indicate that a dog is unpredictable (moody) and you should be careful.

I love the little stars around the warning, kind of lightens the mood. That's a doorbell below the sign.

We have no such sign on our front gate, as Callie is as sweet as pie. The only thing she does is jump up and cover visitors with kisses. Of course, some people can find that to be a little lunatique.

5 comments:

  1. A sign in Boussay warns of a "chat bizarre"! The cat in question seemed very friendly but perfectly normal. Maybe she had funny turns. P.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a little metal sign that my sister bought me, that says Chat lunatique :) I did have a cat-- it wasn't about me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. L'anglais, que je ne sais pas parler mais que je peux lire un peut, me semble être une très belle langue. Certaines phrases me font sourire, comme par exemple "to indicate that a dog is unpredictable", ou encore une phrase que je lis sur les pastèques dans les supermarchés : "may contain an occasional seed". Les titres de films en anglais ont souvent une sonorité incroyable, comme "Last action hero", traduit parait-il par "Le dernier des héros" au Québec et traduit par "dernier héros d'action" par Google translate :-\.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I want both signs ; I fancy hanging them up at my office.

    ReplyDelete
  5. pauline, I've never seen one of those! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.

    judy, lol!

    olivier, c'est une drôle de langue, l'anglais !

    michael, that would be fitting!

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!