Word: sou
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...sou is a sou," the French used to say, pocketing the 5-centime change on their glass of Pernod. But this ancient expression of French thrift became meaningless when, with the fall of the franc that began with World War I, the sou gradually descended to its present poker-chip worthlessness of one-hundredth of an American cent...
...prevent this, the government for a time is requiring all price tags to bear both old and new prices. Workers accustomed to receive 40,000 francs a month may grumble at only 400 -until they discover a bottle of red wine now costs only a franc and the resurrected sou will buy a box of matches...
...time the old banknotes will simply be issued overprinted in red with their new values, until new coins (including a silver 5-franc piece the size and approximate value of a silver dollar) can be turned out. But once again a thrifty Frenchman can say, "A sou is a sou...
...fashion, husbands could get rid of a wife simply by saying, "I divorce you. I divorce you. I divorce you," or by tearing up the marriage papers ("breaking the cards," in Algerian slang). A woman had no legal rights over her children and could be cut off without a sou of alimony. Gradually, from behind innumerable veils, the cry went up: "Kif-kif la Française" (roughly: Let us be just like the French lady...
...much of the early tilting with school officials, then, with a neighbor, organized the French course. For a fee of $5 an hour the school hired Louise Burke, a retired Cleveland French teacher. Miss Burke runs her classes without texts and entirely in French, fining youngsters a "sou" (actually 1?) when they lapse into English. Says Mrs. Knerly's daughter Margaret, 11: "I love it. We get a lot done. Miss Burke doesn't keep going over and over something, and boring...