Re: [OT]Re: Genealogical Society meeting

Le Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:11:57 -0500, melsonr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Robert Melson) écrivait dans soc.genealogy.misc:

>That's true of just about every language.  Colloquialisms - expressions
>without a direct meaning in or of themselves but that, through use,
>have assumed a meaning contrary to the actual words.  One I learned

There is a very common expression in French : sans doute

If you translate it directly, you get : without a doubt, with no doubt

But it actually means : probably, with a small doubt

And you will see this expression in many genealogical papers, i.e.
someone writing John was probably the son of James and Mary but
read as John was for sure the son of James and Mary.


Denis

-- 
Denis Beauregard - 
Les Français d'Amérique du Nord - www.francogene.com/genealogie--quebec/
French in North America before 1722 -
www.francogene.com/quebec--genealogy/
Sur cédérom à 1770 - On CD-ROM to 1770