A TASTE FOR LUXURY

One way to make sure you don't miss dinner...

Give French cats the choice between a bowl of tap water and a bowl of Evian, and they'll inevitably choose Evian. Cachemire, silk, camel hair? These cats recognize quality right away and will curl up on the best fabrics in a second. But I never dreamed they knew anything about stainless steel cookware until I discovered Pompon, a.k.a. Guy l'Eclair and sometimes called Yo-Yo, nesting in my best French Cristel marmite.

Vocabulary
soie:  silk
cashmere:  cachemire
poil de chameau:  camel hair  
inox:  stainless steel
marmite:  stock pot


Expression
Une truite dans la marmite vaut plus que deux saumons dans la rivière.  A trout in the pot is worth more than two salmon in the river.  






Text & photos ©2011 P.B. Lecron

A.K.A. POMPON by P.B. Lecron

The naming of cats is a difficult matter--T.S. Eliot, 
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats


It was indeed a holiday game coming up with a name for this little, soon to be big, Birman.  I had suggested Pierre-Henri, Paco, Diego and Blaise; Yo-Yo, Sparky, Maximo and Enzo--but his young mistress settled the question, and for family purposes the chocolate-nosed ball of fur curls his tail to the sound of Pompon.

Vocabulary
un pompon:  a pompom
pomponner: to doll up; to dress up

Popular Expressions
à vous le pompon:  to you the advantage; you win
avoir son pompon:  to have too much to drink; in times past, simply to be happy
décrocher le pompon: to win, to be first place; literally to detach the pompon, as on a merry-go-round to win a free ride



C'est le pompon:  It's the last straw.
Il tient le pompon:  He takes the cake.
C'est le pompon de la pomponnette :  It's the end-all.  That beats everything.


en avoir ras le pompon (French Canadian):  to be exasperated, fed up
se calmer le pompon (French Canadian):  to calm down

More
It used to be said that to touch the red pompon on a French sailor's beret brought good luck.

By the way and quite coincidentally with the title of this post,  Aka Birman is a set of conditioning movements in Burmese martial arts where the combat sequence is performed without an adversary, with or without arms. Our Pompon is a chocolate-point Sacré de Birmanie, or Birman, and practices this sport.

For T.S. Eliot's poem, The Naming of Cats, click here.

French drama
A seven-minute film clip from the 1967 Marcel Pagnol film, La Femme du Boulanger, where the reconciliation beween the baker and his younger, errant wife coincides with the return of his black cat, Pomponnette. To view, click here.

Text& photo ©2011 P.B. Lecron
  

THE CAT'S PAJAMAS by P.B. Lecron

"Le moindre des petits félins est déjà en lui-même un vrai chef-d'oeuvre." --Léonarde de Vinci
(The least of little cats is already in himself a masterpiece.)

A silky, gregarious and playful pasha--who could ask for more? The white-mitted Sacré de Birmanie is one of the three most popular purebred cats in France. The dream kitten, above, is a chocolate-point Birman and the new bébé in our family. In his walking papers he's officially named Fadji des Grands Saphirs. At home he's known as Pompon, but he must surely sport a secret name, imagining himself to be Guy l'Eclair, i.e., Flash Gordon, dashing through an intergalactic adventure to defend the universe between the back bedrooms and the kitchen sink.

I, and millions of French people who have a predilection for any and all cats, agree with author Colette who said, "Il n'y a pas de chat ordinaire."  There are no ordinary cats. (Less than five percent of the domestic cat population in France is purebred.) By common accord, alley cats or chats de gouttière are most respectfully denominated chats de race Européen by the Fédération Féline Française and, like a seigneurial privilege, are attributed a category in cat shows for which no particular standards dare be imposed.

Vocabulary
les pyjamas du chat: the cat's pajamas
éclair: flash

Expression
La nuit tous les chat sont gris: At night all cats are gray; in the obscurity, the difference between people or things becomes indistinguishable.

Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci spent the final three years of his life in France in the service of François I, and is entombed in the Chapel de Saint-Hubert at the Château d'Amboise on the banks of the Loire?


For a history of the development of the Sacred Cat of Burma or "Birman" in France, click here; for a timeline of the breed, in French and with vintage photos, click here; or for the story envelopped in a charming legend penned by Marcelle Adam, click here.

Text & photo ©2011 P.B. Lecron