Feu!

It's funny what words become your favorite when you learn a foreign language.  Generally it has nothing to do with what the words actually mean and everything to do with the way they sound when you say them or the shape your mouth makes when you are forming the word.

Copain says that his favorite words are McDonalds, burgers, whiskey and sprite. Somehow I don't think this goes along with my theory at all as he does tend to worship the god-like status of fast food in the United States like I worship Monoprix and Target for their amazing shopping opportunities. (Last time he visited he lived on Big Gulps and toured the West by taste-testing his way up the coastline and then inland to Vegas).

K at My Riviera Wedding likes words that end with "able" - formidable (marvelous, tremendous), incroyable (incredible) and also genial (brilliant - for kerry, great - for Amerricannes).  I have to say I am completely onboard with incroyable as it is also in my top ten French favorites. If something is formidable, incroyable or genial it must have been pretty friggin amazing to merit such adjectives. Imagine a fine slice of homemade foie gras served with a glass of rich red wine - the only word to decribe the wonderfulness of that delicious combination on your pallette is formidable!  How was your Christmas dinner cherie? Formidable! Simplement incroyable!

As for me, I have always loved the words fabuleux (fabulous) and feu (fire).  I love the way your lips make a little pursed shape when you say these words and I especially love that you can say them both with gusto.  If something is wonderful you can exclaim, "Fabuleux!".  And if you ever feel like firing a canon, you can yell "Feu!".

I've been thinking of the word feu all day today. And yesterday and the day before that come to think of it. My stomach is utterly and completely on FEU. After the ridiculous back incident of 2009 my chiropractor prescribed an anti-inflammatory by the name of Bi Profenid.  He said that that Advil I was taking was to "doux" or soft.  I needed the hard stuff - and boy did he give it to me. The only positive aspect to this Bi Profenid is that it was free because that's how France rolls - and I didnt have to wait in line at the pharmacy AND no old French ladies with attitude problems cut in front of me.  At least I didn't have to fight for the hard stuff - they basically just gave it to me. Normally this would make me appreciate it more - covet it and taunt my friends with my lucky find.  Little did I know I could use it more like a threatening device - screw with me and I'll spike your drink with my pills!!!

The doc said to take one pill twice a day and to make sure to take it with a meal because it could cause some stomach problems.  Seeing as how I already have stomach issues, I made sure to eat A LOT before taking one of those suckers - bread, potatoes, starter, main dish, dessert, tea, snack, pill. So you can imagine my consternation when I was woken at 4am with gut wrenching spasms - the kind that make you cry out in pain to get through it.  (I have no idea how I will handle child birth).  Copain was worried, I was writhing, and the neighbor who shares our bedroom wall was probably wondering if he shouldn't call in a domestic violence case to the Gendarmerie. Genial.

A cup of coffee when it was a normal hour to face the world did help some but I kept feeling the feu all day long at work and no amount of toast, pizza, water, yogurt, applesauce, or cheese could calm it down.  My thought was that the fuller my stomach was of things that "tide you over" as my mom used to say when speaking of oatmeal, the better I would feel.  Errrrr not so much.

That night I followed my Advil-loving mother's advice to "only take half a pill and then if that doesn't work, just Advil, or maybe some Aleve" which has become her new favorite.  I tried the half pill after a very copious raclette dinner at K's and this morning - 5am spasms. Turns out half a pill only spares you one hour of pain.

Today my friends, my stomach is on grève - strike! (This happens to be a word that I hate in French, but more on that later). I've been nice to it - I've tried the opposite of yesterday and eaten healthy foods, stayed hydrated and tried not to snack too much.  But the feu is in full force! I almost had to stop my perusing at Zara because I thought the feu was going to cause me to pass out in the middle of the new collection. My days of Bi-Profenid are over.  It's incroyable how my insides have been significantly brulé and I can't take it anymore. 

This is just friggin fabuleux. Formidable you might say.