02 June 2013

La gare de Blois

There's so much to do and so much to talk over that I don't have a lot of time to write a blog post. I'll just post a few pictures. We picked CHM up yesterday at the train station in Blois — la gare de Blois — at noon.


Blois is a funny name, phonetically speaking. Most people pronounce it as one syllable: [BLWAH]. To do so, you have to pronounce the vowel AH the French way, in the back of your mouth and up your nose. If you say it the American way, in the front of the mouth, you end up with two syllables, something like [bluh-WAH]. It's the way Americans say [pee-noh-nuh-WAHR], in four syllables, rather than [pee-noh-NWAHR] in three syllables, for the grape called Pinot Noir.

La gare de Blois

But you also hear French people say Blois as more or less two syllables, and not the same way. A couple of years ago, CHM and I were on the train, coming from Paris back to Saint-Aignan. The conductor on the train distinctly said something like [buh-luh-WAH] when he announce the stop. I'm not sure he was a native French speaker. Even yesterday, however, I noticed that the woman announcing the arrival of the train from Paris said something that sounded like [buh-LWAH], two syllables, for Blois.

Waiting on the platform are passengers heading to Paris. On the right side, we were waiting for the train from Paris to come in.

Those are the strange observations of my phonetically trained mind (and tongue). Speaking of tongues — or in tongues, I guess — tomorrow I'll write about and publish pictures of the restaurant in Bracieux and the food we ate.

Le train en provenance de Paris rentre en gare...

8 comments:

  1. I haven't travelled by train to anywhere for years.
    Blois station looks very calm and civilised, just how a country station should be.

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  2. I LOVE train travel; so civilized as opposed to flying.

    you are fortunate to live in a country where trains are a viable transportation method. the USA gave up on trains in the 1950s for the interstate highway and the airplane; more's the pity.

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  3. Same goes for the pronunciation of Rouen where I lived for a year back in the late 60s. Madame in my French family pronounced it as a single syllable, but I recall that almost everyone else gave it two. Then, there are the inhabitants of said city, Rouennais.

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  4. I never think about the "front of the mouth" and the "back of the mouth" pronunciations, until I read your posts, and say the words the way you describe, and, sure enough, there I am, using the front or the back of my mouth :)

    I love train station photos from France :)

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  5. Pronunciation clarifications in your blog are so interesting to me, Ken.
    As soon as I realize where you are going, I say the word in my head and then continue to read, hoping that my version is your version. It was, today - YEAH!
    The train station is clean and orderly, just the way it should be. Too bad we Americans never realized how an efficient train system would have helped the citizens travel around more economically and more green, of course.

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  6. I love using the trains in Europe. I learned a long time ago that 2nd class isn't really, so I no longer buy 1st class tickets.

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  7. I suspect people who make announcements anywhere (such as on trains and planes) tend to pick up some odd habits to make what they have to say sound more interesting (only it doesn't in practice). Maybe that extra "uh" is a bit like that.

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  8. I suspect people who make announcements anywhere (such as on trains and planes) tend to pick up some odd habits to make what they have to say sound more interesting (only it doesn't in practice). Maybe that extra "uh" is a bit like that.

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