pedz

joined 2 years ago
[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It's a good question but I just read this on Wiktionary and Wikipedia and it's obviously difficult to be certain.

Both Wiktionary entries in English or French are saying the etymology is from papillon. Then the Wikipedia article for the papillote candy says that the word papillote in cooking is from this, but there's no citation. And the origin of the word for the candy is also discussed there as being unsure.

However, the French Wiktionary page on papillotte mentions that it's the feminized form of papillot, which describes a small butterfly using the diminutive "ot". This is grammatically cromulent. Like chien for dog, then chiot for puppy, or île and îlot.

The papillotes for cooking are not arranged in a butterfly form, but it's easy to see how it could come from wrapping food like this . So by extension it can also be used to wrap anything using a type of paper, like hair.

As a native speaker, I tend to agree with the proposed etymology, as it kind of makes sense. There's other words based on papillon so it makes it more likely. Like the verb papilloter to describe fluttering. Or bow ties, that are called nœuds papillon (butterfly knot), also because they look like butterflies.

Still, sometimes the simple deductions are also the ones that are wrong. It could also come from papier, because papillotes can be made of paper. However the spelling is not helping because if it came from papier, it would be spelled papiotte. It could just be a coincidence than ends up working both ways.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

You probably could, as papillote is something cooked wrapped in aluminium or parchment paper. The name comes from a candy that was wrapped in shiny paper and looked like a butterfly. So by extension now it's also for any food that's cooked wrapped in something. You can have a vegetable papillote, a salmon papillote, or a veal papillote.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago (10 children)

In French moths and butterflies are called papillons. There is sometimes a distinction between butterflies and "night butterflies" (moths) but in the end, they are all papillons.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Or they are hypocrites because a lot of them join to escape poverty. It's easy for the military, the marines and all those recruit poor people. Sometimes they don't really have much choice anyway.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They are "invasive" even where they are native. I go camping in national parks in the south of Québec and those cute little things are annoying as hell. They steal and chew anything you leave unsupervised at your camp site. They come scratch and sniff your tent multiple times a night.

Les osti de ratons!

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 37 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's interesting to see how this strategy changes depending on the species.

Some birds will fake being injured to lure predators away from their chicks, and others will attack anything coming too close.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

Aside from the sad news, as a Montrealer, the title confused me.

When I hear about the North Shore it's usually to describe the north of Montreal, as opposed to the south. I thought the title was lacking precision.

Then I read the article, saw Natashquan, and realized 'North Shore' in this context is about Côte-Nord (North COAST).

I didn't know it could be translated to 'North Shore'.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

Tssk. It's gonna be Biden's fault. Isn't it obvious?

Just like it was Obama's fault for the invasion of Iraq. And just like it's Justin Trudeau's fault if Russia is not in the G7 anymore.

You gotta stay informed!

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 weeks ago

So far I considered myself lucky that google only added AI results in English but recently they also started doing it in other languages. I googled in French which train stations had elevated platforms in my city and the AI results were confidently wrong. Entirely false information.

It even added that one of the downtown stations was closed for renovations, which is also false as it has been reopened since December 2024.

And you can't disable it. It's so fucking bad.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

I don't know the reference but the sentence reminded me of a stupid situation I was in. So gather round for an anecdote.

I wanted to travel a bit so I booked a hotel in Toronto and took a train from Montreal. However, the day before that, I went for a bike ride and took my health card out of my wallet to only bring this with me. And I left it in the pocket of my exercise shorts. So I didn't have it with me. Also, I don't drive and have no license.

So once in Toronto, it was impossible to get my hotel room because I had no valid ID with a picture. I tried to get another hotel room anywhere, checked with 4 or 5 others, but they all had the same answer. No ID with a picture means no room.

I ended up spending the night outside. I slept on cardboard like a homeless person. Just besides Union Station and the CN tower.

So I guess that if you travel under an alias, don't forget the fake IDs.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

If you speak French you can consider Guadeloupe as a possibility.

Of course there's cars everywhere but it's entirely possible to travel there without a car.

There are municipal buses from the airport to multiple cities. There are also ferries to go to the multiple islands. The island of Marie-Galante can be cycled, and is very nice.

I spent a few days in Le Gosier, Pointe-à-Pitre and Grand-Bourg, and I never needed a car.

On the opposite side, avoid SXM.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

I was using E16 years ago and liked it but eventually switched to Gnome (2, I think), after waiting for E17 for too long.

What made me quit was the wait. All the other DEs at the time were releasing new versions frequently but Enlightenment took forever.

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