French to English: Olympic Souvenirs, Part 2

I opened the paper this morning and there were the noisy and happy headlines - still awash in Sunday night's hockey victory.  They're calling Sidney Crosby the new Canadian hero, the kid who worked overtime to take his team to the finish line, snatching the gold away from the Americans.  This 22-year old has got it made.

For ordinary mortals like me, 22 was a year that passed  unnoticed.  No blaring trumpets.  No admiring and cheering audience.  How many people that age have their future sealed in enviable glory and fame, not to mention the million dollar sponsorship offers that will be pouring into Sidney Crosby's e-mail and cellphone?  At this point, I believe he'll need at least five managers to oversee and prioritize his commitments as soon as he returns to Nova Scotia...and of course to make sure that his skates are as sharp as a Swiss army knife.

That was a boisterous party - the Vancouver Olympics.  I didn't watch all of it, but caught snippets here and there.  The figure-skaters held my attention and the ski jumpers took my breath away.  The speed skaters made my knuckles white.

Before I go to the souvenirs, let's take a look at the 15 Olympic winter sports.  Note that a few are the same in French and English like curling, luge and bobsleigh.

FRENCH	ENGLISH
ski alpin	alpine skiing
biathlon	biathlon
bobsleigh	bobsleigh
ski de fond	cross country skiing
curling	curling
patinage artistique	figure skating
ski acrobatique	freestyle skiing
hockey sur glace	ice hockey
luge	luge
combiné nordique	Nordic combined
piste courte	short track
skeleton	skeleton
saut à ski	ski jumping
surf des neiges	snowboarding
patinage de vitesse	speed skating

Now, for more Olympic souvenir shopping.  While browsing the Vancouver 2010 online Olympic store, I not only learned new French words, but also learned one new English word - lanyards.  I had never heard of lanyards so opened my Canadian Oxford dictionary.  A lanyard is a rope put around the neck or slung over the shoulder with anything (whistle, key, USB drive, etc) attached to it.  I had one to hold my ID card when I was a corporate employee, but didn't know then that it was a lanyard.

Here we go:

FRENCH	ENGLISH
chemises	shirts
casquettes	caps (hats)
mascotte en peluche	plush mascot
port-clès et lanières	keychains and lanyards
epinglettes	pins
bruiteurs des Jeux d'hiver	Winter Games noisemakers
pièces de monnaie	coins
écharpe 100% satin de soie	100% silk satin scarf
mini sac à dos	grind pack
pendentif autochtone Vancouver 2010 en argent sterling	Vancouver 2010 sterling silver Aboriginal round pendant
réplique du flambeau olympique de Vancouver 2010	Vancouver 2010 torch replica
clochette à vache Vancouver 2010	Vancouver 2010 cow bell
breloques à boisson Inukshuk Vancouver 2010 plaquée argent	Vancouver 2010 silver plated Inukshuk drink charms

If you were wondering about "Inukshuk", this is what it looks like.  The picture is courtesy of Wikipedia.  It means something which acts for or performs the function of a person.  Inukshuks are man-made stone landmarks  and are used by Aboriginals in the Arctic region of North America.

If you recall, the Inukshuk was adopted by the Vancouver Olympics as part of its official logo.
If you're interested in more Olympic souvenirs, you can visit the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Store at:  http://www.vancouver2010.com/ and then click on the Olympic Store tab.  You can switch languages by simply clicking on "French" or "English" right at the very top!