découseur

Struggling to break through the language barrier? Maybe we can help. Heard, seen or said something that made you giggle? We'd love to hear about it.

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martyn94
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découseur

Post by martyn94 »

I had occasion to find out what the French for a "seam ripper" is. It's my title: everything you could want: elegant, non-violent, intelligible - and not something I would ever have guessed in a month of Sundays.
Last edited by martyn94 on Thu 25 Feb 2016 16:51, edited 2 times in total.
Sus
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Post by Sus »

ok, so now I am intrigued on how you found this out!?!
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lonesome paddy
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Post by lonesome paddy »

He was looking for a needle in a haystack
Allan
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Re: découseur

Post by Allan »

martyn94 wrote:I had occasion to find out what the French for a "seam ripper" is. It's my title: everything you could want: elegant, non-violent, intelligible - and not something I would ever have guessed in a month of Sundays.
And coming apart at the seams.....? 😀

A couseuse is a seamstress so the word extraction is fairly logical
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Kate
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Post by Kate »

Sew what?
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Sue
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Post by Sue »

Oooh this had me in stitches!
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Post by martyn94 »

Sus wrote:ok, so now I am intrigued on how you found this out!?!
I followed my usual strategy for abstruse products. First I looked in my Larousse and got nowhere. Then I put a search for "seam ripper" into Amazon.fr. You get lots of results only in English, but if you persevere you find someone who describes it as, eg "seam ripper/découseur". Then you put "découseur" into Amazon.fr and get many more results. The same thing works on eBay.fr.

It's the wonderfully logical (and hence Cartesian, and hence French) idea of an "un-sower" that appealed to me. Us Anglos go for the more concrete idea of "ripping".
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Sue
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Post by Sue »

un-sewer to be precise or you taking seeds out the ground. Sorry but I could't resist. :lol: :lol:
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Post by martyn94 »

Sue wrote:un-sewer to be precise or you taking seeds out the ground. Sorry but I could't resist. :lol: :lol:
You can tell that I'm not much of a seamster, though I can do buttons. Strange that seamster is the masculine, or non-gendered, form of the word though "brewster" is a female brewer and "spinster" a female spinner. I can't even blame it on the spell check this time.
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sue and paul
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Post by sue and paul »

are you sure it wasn't "bodice ripper" you were searching for? See if you can find the French for that :lol:
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

sue and paul wrote:are you sure it wasn't "bodice ripper" you were searching for? See if you can find the French for that :lol:
Larousse reckons it's a "roman grivois à trame historique". But it does not really capture the charm of the original.
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Post by catllar »

Also known as a decoud-vite! Excuse the spelling if it's wrong - never seen it written down only heard it used verbally!
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Post by Robert Ferrieux »

If it was produced in Bradford, a fabrics town, would it be called a "Yorkshire ripper"? (Aaaaarrrghh - forget it)
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Robert Ferrieux wrote:If it was produced in Bradford, a fabrics town, would it be called a "Yorkshire ripper"? (Aaaaarrrghh - forget it)
Only if the guy who arrested him was a Yorkshire peeler. But that's enough unfunny bad-taste jokes.
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