all joking aside

All joking aside, I do hope that my readers on the Eastern Seaboard are doing OK-- staying dry and safe, snuggling up with a book perhaps, and keeping flashlights (not fleshlights!) and candles handy. May your roof leakage and wind damage be minimal.

My buddy Dominique wrote me from France earlier today:

salut Kévin,

d'après les dernières nouvelles de la météo, ça va souffler sur la côte Est! j'espère que tu t'es mis au chaud, bien protégé, tiens nous au courant,

à bientôt

Hi, Kevin,

According to the latest weather reports, it's going to blow hard on the East Coast! I hope you're someplace warm and protected. Keep us up to date.

Till soon,

I wrote back:

D,

Merci pour ton email. Pour le moment, il pleut un peu, mais pas trop, et il n'est pas très venteux non plus (ça va empirer demain, je crois). Tant que j'ai de l'électricité, je te donnerai des mises à jour aussi souvent que possible. S'il y a une panne, je te contacterai par mon portable.

A+,

Kevin

PS: As-tu entendu qu'on appelle cet orage le "Frankenstorm" chez nous?

D,

Thanks for your email. For the moment, it's raining a bit, but not too much, and it's not very windy, either (it's going to be worse tomorrow, I think). As long as I've got electricity, I'll give you updates as often as possible. If there's an outage, I'll reach you by my cell.

Later,

Kevin

PS: have you heard that they're calling this storm the "Frankenstorm" where we are?

Dom replied:

oui en fait Sandy et Frankenstorm c'est le même ouragan, je ne sais pas pourquoi on l'appelle avec 2 noms

Yes, in fact, Sandy and Frankenstorm are the same hurricane; I don't know why they're calling it by two names.

As I was typing my reply to this, Dominique wrote again:

voilà j'ai compris, c'est à cause d'Halloween,

There, I get it-- it's because of Halloween.

My reply (which took Dom's second email into consideration at the very end):

J'imagine que "Sandy" est une appellation plus traditionnelle chez les métérologues (on tend à nommer les ouragans d'une manière alphabétique: Alain, Bruno, Colette, David, etc.), alors que "Frankenstorm" est un sobriquet inventé par le public, parce qu'il s'agit de plusieurs orages qui se combinent d'une manière plutôt maladroite, et bien sûr parce que c'est bientôt la Fête des Morts. --ah, voilà... j'ai reçu ton second email. T'as raison.

I imagine that "Sandy" is a more traditional name among meteorologists (they tend to name hurricanes alphabetically: Alan, Bruno, Colette, David, etc.), whereas "Frankenstorm" is a nickname invented by the public, because it's a question of several storms combining in a rather awkward way... and of course because it's Halloween soon. --ah, there we are... I got your second email. You're right.

Nice to know that old friends across the ocean are watching over me.

Stay safe, good gentles.


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