To our circle of French Story Listeners,
If you missed last Friday’s Le Cercle de Bruno, or you’d like to enjoy it again, Session 7 is ready for you.
🎥 Watch the Session 7 replay
https://www.aliceayel.com/resources/book-club-le-cercle-de-bruno-session-7/
We have nearly finished chapter 4 of Bruno et la magie de l’amour, and we had a lot of fun with one expression in particular.
A word on “rat de bibliothèque”
Bruno jokes that all of Brittany will think he’s just un rat de bibliothèque avec deux pieds gauches.
A rat de bibliothèque is a bookworm: someone who spends their time with their nose in books, often in libraries.
It can be a gentle tease or a proud badge, and Bruno, who aced his exams with his nose in his books, is the perfect example.
As for the origin, the image is easy to picture. A rat settles into a place, nibbles away, and never leaves, just as a reader settles into the library.
French loves this idea of the rat who haunts a place. There is un rat d’église for someone always found in church, and un rat d’opéra for the young dancers of the Paris Opera ballet school.
And the deux pieds gauches (“two left feet”) are an expression too: it describes someone clumsy, which is exactly how Bruno feels!
Barry and Nadya in Lyon
Nadya, who is from Bulgaria, told us that she knows this expression in Bulgarian as well.
It’s wonderful to see how many languages share the same funny image.
Do you have a similar expression in your own language? We’d love to hear it!
📅 Save the date: Friday, November 6th
Our next read & discuss will be in two weeks, so you have time to catch up on the replays and the chapters.
Friday, November 6th
🕓 4pm UK / 5pm France / 11am ET / 8am PT
🔗 Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/jc/84542604887
Meeting ID: 845 4260 4887
Passcode: Bruno3
Camera on or off, you are always welcome.
With warmth,
Alice & Ben 💕
P.S. 🇫🇷 Good news for Pau! I have extended the registration deadline to the beginning of next month, so 2 more people can join me and Marisa and Edward for our weekend on November 28th and 29th. Two full days of authentic French, in real life and not on screen. Would you like to be one of them? 👉 https://www.aliceayel.com/live-a-weekend-entirely-in-french/