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Joined: Sep 2000
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Vitrine, fenêtre, glace.

All of these are pretty much used around here Bridget. Vitrine being is the more proper term for a shop window of any size, but people will commonly say fenêtre(like the saying YUP instead of saying YES)

Regular windows are fenêtres, big or small.

Glace is used in the term "lave-glace" - the blue windshield washer fluid. Apart from that, the front window of a car is a pare-brise.

Sometimes, the word glace might be used to describe GLASS - but not necessarily in a window frame.

Confusing enough??


#141380 04/16/05 12:27 AM
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Bel, I love it! "pare-brise" = to pare (cut) the breeze...


#141381 04/16/05 02:58 PM
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Bel, I love it! "pare-brise" = to pare (cut) the breeze...

or the idiomatic equivalent of 'windsheild' --a piece of glass that protects by sheilding one from the wind--vs a peice of glass that protects by cutting the wind off-)

its basicly the same 'word' in either language.. (do you think it sounds better in french?) i think it sounds logical!


#141382 04/18/05 01:09 AM
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Also--as I read the above, the similarity between fenêtre and fenestrate struck me.


#141383 04/18/05 09:55 AM
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the similarity between fenêtre and fenestrate struck me

As well it might. The little hat over the e indicates that there was an s after the e time back way bck.


#141384 04/18/05 11:32 AM
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Really? Cool! Merci.
Query: my "gut" tells me that defenestrate (hi, tsuwm!) ought to be a transitive verb. Is there a reason for this? Even a semi-valid one, I mean? (I heard that, Anna! )


#141385 04/18/05 11:54 AM
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My gut tells me the same thing, Jackie.When you "defenstrate", you are not removing windows from your home, but throwing something (or someone) out a window. Hence you are defenestrating the object. Anna, however, will be much more concise and precise, I'm sure.


#141386 04/18/05 09:18 PM
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Here you are, Jackie, a link to the most famous defenestrations ever ...

http://www.answers.com/topic/defenestrations-of-prague


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Sorry. I don't do windows.



TEd
#141388 04/19/05 12:31 AM
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Thanks, CK. Appreciated. Golly, will we ever stop thinking up ways to do each other in?

Ted, you said you don't do windows...hey, is there a word for throwing somebody out a door?


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