Word: french
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...French have a phrase to describe the carefully crafted rhetoric that politicians use when they have nothing much to say or want to paper over fundamental differences. They call it "langue de bois" - wooden tongue - and, unfortunately, we are entering a period in which official tongues will be even more thickly wooden than usual. The main reason for that is the summit of world leaders scheduled to take place on April 2 in London. Billed as a crucially important event for the future of the global economy when it was first called just four months ago, it's now clear...
...French have pronounced The Kindly Ones (the phrase refers to the Furies of Greek myth) a modern masterpiece. In the U.S., the reception has been mixed at best; the New York Times called it "an odious stunt." That it is not. It's far from perfect: Littell has that maddening Continental contempt for paragraph breaks, and he details Max's neuroses with dismaying thoroughness--Max is gay and obsessed with sodomy, which he used to practice with his twin sister, for whom he still yearns (lusty twins being the last resort of the lazy novelist). Above all, there...
...course, his philosophy runs straight into reality. Catholic missionary groups are at the center of efforts to reduce the rate of HIV infection in Africa, which accounts for just over 12% of the world's population but has more than 60% of its AIDS cases. Speaking on French radio, European parliament member Daniel Cohen-Bendit called the Pope's latest comments "close to premeditated murder...
...millions of French protesters took to the streets Thursday for a repeat of the nationwide strikes that slowed the country to a crawl on Jan. 29, there was the feeling that the mass social movement had become distinctly personal. More than ever before, marchers said they were not just denouncing the government's minimalist response to the worsening recession, but were singling out President Nicolas Sarkozy as the defiant embodiment of attention to ideological orthodoxy rather than the peoples' pain. As a result, public and political challenges to Sarkozy's leadership are growing - including from members of his own conservative...
...Paris' two airports, and long-haul service was normal. And while several provincial cities such as Lyon experienced considerable disruption of public transport, movement in Paris was near normal, with the exception of reduced service on a few suburban commuter lines. (See pictures of protests on the Spanish-French border...