Words of the day: 'box' and 'bolt'

Christophe Grandsire said:
> En réponse à Philippe Caquant :
>
>
>>I heard "tailler une plume" too. The normal meaning
>>would be "to sharpen a pen". Maybe "une pipe" is more
>>common.
>
> Once again, you're proving to me that you speak a very archaic form of
> French. I never heard "tailler une plume" for whatever meaning you're
> saying. *Nobody* refers to a pen as a "plume" except in poetry and in the
> set phrase "nom de plume": "pseudonym".
1. The expression is metaphorical (or was originally metaphorical);
"plume" is not being used to refer literally to a pen unless French men
have some rather transhuman anatomical features I don't know about.

2. Even if you have never heard the expression, others have (besides
Philippe):

     http://www.aeqsa.com/English/glossary.htm

3. Google is your friend. :)


> And yes, I may be definite about that, but I have the weight of experience
> listening to speech nearly everywhere in France.
So, you look back upon a lifetime of wandering the French countryside
listening to people talk about blowjobs?


-- Mark