Dawn and the dandelions

My friend Dawn has sent me an e-mail of a charming story she wrote about her grand mother showing her how to pull weeds (hold the weed close to the ground, twist and pull), back when she was four. At the end of the piece, she mentions dandelions. Like most people, I'm familiar with the dandelion, having pulled a few out of the ground in my days but, for the life of me, couldn't remember the French word for it. I knew it had been the symbol of Larousse, the ubiquitous publisher of dictionaries and encyclopedias of all types for years, but couldn't translate it. My English-French dictionary (Larousse) told me that dandelion is "dent de lion" or "pissenlit". "Dent de lion" is the literal translation of the Latin name "dens leonis" or lion's tooth, from the toothed outline of the leaves. Which explains the origin of dandelion, from "dent-de-lion". They almost sound alike. The amusing thing is that the French don't use the word. They say "pissenlit" which translates as bed-wetter. And for good reason. The dandelion is known for its diuretic properties.

May Day

In France, it is the day when people buy a small bunch of muguet or Lilly of the Valley to give to a loved one. It is also la fete des travailleurs or Day of the Workers. Incidentally, the first such day took place in this country in the late 1880s at a McCormick plant in Chicago struck by the workers demanding an eight-hour work day.

As they do every year, the main Unions march in all the cities of France, their number being the greatest in Paris. This year, several Unions marched together, in a show of unity against the policies of the current government. Their demands are, like here, for increased salaries but also for legalization of the illegal workers in France. The "paper-less ones" . Mostly from Africa. 5,000 of those illegals marched at the head of the largest French Union in Paris today. A small portion of the ones in the country.

In addition to reporting today's events, French TV was showing newsreels of the events of May 1968 when France was paralyzed by an increasing number of strikes which eventually stopped the country dead in its tracks. Pure and simple. And what should be, must be, remembered is that it all started with the demand from a small student Union on one of the University of Paris campus for the right for male students to visit the female students dormitories at night...After all, French women had received the right to take The Pill in a law enacted the year before in view of the large number of abortions, which were illegal then.

Happy May Day!