1/23/2013

The state of American suburban housewives in the late 50s: vocabulary


  • to bury, to be buried                                                                         enterrer, être enterré
  • a yearning for sth                                                                              un désir fort pour qq chose
  • to seek fulfillment                                                                              rechercher l'épanouissement
  • to cope with something                                                                    faire face à qq chose
  • to pity somebody                                                                              avoir pitié de qq1
  • to give up a dream                                                                             renoncer à un rêve
  • to devote your life to doING sth                                                    consacrer sa vie à faire qq chose
  • By the end of the fifties                                                                  dès la fin des années 50
  • to attend college                                                                              aller à la fac
  • a degree                                                                                            un diplôme
  • to go steady with someone                                                           avoir une relation stable avec qq1
  • the birthrate                                                                                      le taux de natalité
  • to overtake somebody                                                                   dépasser qq1
  • brassieres with false bosom                                                          des soutien-gorge rembourrés
  • a paean to sth                                                                                  un hommage à qq chose
  • a nervous breakdown                                                                    une dépression nerveuse
  • to dye your hair                                                                              se teindre les cheveux
  • to shrink to the size of a model                                                    maigrir jusqu'à atteindre la taille-mannequin
  • to sew (home sewing)                                                                    coudre (la couture à la maison)
  • part-time jobs                                                                                  des emplois à mi-temps
  • a mortgage                                                                                       un prêt immobilier
  • in the late 50s                                                                                 à la fin des années 50
  • a real-estate office                                                                         une agence immobilière
  • shortages                                                                                       des pénuries
  • labor-saving appliances                                                              des appareils ménagers qui vous épargnent du travail
  • the core of American culture                                                       le coeur de la culture américaine
  • to wax the floor                                                                             cirer le parquet
  • the census                                                                                     le recensement


1/13/2013

''I want a wife'', Judy Syefers Brady, 1971.

VOCABULARY LIST (Clara, Lina, Lucie)






The housework / women’s household duties


a wife -> two wives.
to iron = repasser.
to mend sth [the washing machine] = réparer la machine à laver.
To do the grocery shopping = faire les courses dans une épicerie.
to take care of the children
to cook -> a wife has to be a good cook.
to clean up the house
to entertain people -> to receive (someone) as a guest and provide them with food and drink 
overworked women.
an overload of work
Women’s need to multitask


What the wife has to do

chores (pronounce as “children”) = a routine task, esp. a household one.
household tasks
She has to juggle her professional life and her carrier. 
The wife is seen as a baby-sitter, a nurse (because she has to take care of her children and her husband), a cleaning lady, a cook, a psychologist, a prostitute or at least a sexual object with no desire of her own.


The husband as depicted by Brady

childish = immature -> men are babied by their wives

uninvolved in his children’s education

self-centered -> satisfied with himself, feeling superior

unloving, uncaring -> he has no feelings for his wife.

a bully = a tyrant (tyrannical) -> he’s impatient, he behaves like a spoiled child

a lack of relationship: the wife is reduced to a set of functions