Beached freighter delights French resort

A cargo ship that runs ashore in a storm is not usually good news or a source of fun. The French port of Sables d'Olonne, a resort, port and sailing mecca on the mid-Atlantic coast, has made an exception this week.

The town (whose name means 'Sands of Olonne') was appalled when it woke on Monday morning to find the Artemis, a Dutch freighter, marooned like a whale on its pristine beach.   Tugs were brought in to haul it off but failed because of falling tide levels. Now they will have to wait to try again with the high spring tides from the second week of April. Luckily the ship is in good condition and is not carrying anything dangerous.

In the meantime, the 88-metre (290 feet) Artemis, has turned into a magnet, pulling thousands of visitors from the region to gaze at it and fill the tills of sea-front businesses in a usually quiet season. That explains why the town website is now marketing the Artemis as a tourist attraction with a live webcam of the beach and a jokey new slogan: "Les Sables d'Olonne: Once you have tried them, you will never want to leave." The last line in the picture says: "World famous welcome for sailors"

If they don't get the Artemis out on the spring tide, the poor ship will no longer be amusing. The mayor wants to cut it up and have all 2,000 or so tonnes taken away in pieces.  But for now they have even put a video on the municipal site here.

[Below, shoring up the Artemis till the spring tides come]

Comments

[textibule]

Thank you Charles! I've been looking for the Artemis everywhere, the kids took the keys last weekend without saying a word.(Obviously)

Now, whatever will I say to the maire of Sd'O?

[Joan B]

This is a good story about the elements overpowering puny humans... But Sables d'Olonne is a pretty grim place...

[dot king]

Not much interest in this story, I see, but anyway, they've refloated it this afternoon.
Bye bye Artemis . . . bon vent!

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

I think they have refloated HER this afternoon .) Or is feminine reserved only for war ships ?

[dot king]

Daniel, what a lapsus!
I forgot that men like to see cars, ships, planes . . . and whatever else as being female!
Thanks for calling me to order! :)

However, I'm not the only offender, can Charles consider himself told off as well?
"The mayor wants to cut it up and have all 2,000 or so tonnes taken away in pieces"
;0

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

It is very easy to make a lapsus. It happened to me a few days ago with the respective score of Mme Royal and Sarkozy at the presidential election: 47% versus 57%!

PS: "I forgot that men like to see cars, ships, planes . . . and whatever else as being female!" - LOL

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

[dot king]

Daniel, So much can be read into a single word . . . :)

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

"Daniel, So much can be read into a single word . . . :)"

LOL !

PS : there is a technical explanation as well to the single word .) My ADSL connection runs erratically since a few days, with random interruptions. The capacity of the ADSL exchange is lagging behind the number of new subscribers. This happens every 6 to 8 months.

[dot king]

"My ADSL connection runs erratically since a few days"

Correction à la Maggie:

My ADSL connection HAS BEEN RUNNING erratically FOR the last few days

(But I understood you perfectly well, of course - it's all that matters really.) :)

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

[dot king]

Daniel, we must stop this soon or someone will begin to suspect . . .

[Daniel Strohl]

Dot,

My ADSL connection runs erratically since last wednesday - is that ok?

In French: mon ADSL débloque depuis mercredi dernier ou, version plus "hard", mon ADSL déconne depuis mercredi dernier. Ils commencent à me gonfler!

[dot king]

Daniel, J'ai un ami à qui arrive la même chose. Lorsque je suis à l'ordinateur je vois souvent un "flag" qui me dit que xxx "vient de se connecter" - ce n'est presque jamais vrai.
Du coup je l'ai surnommé Major Major - le personnage de "Catch 22" qui a le rang de Major lequel mot est aussi son nom de famille.
Bref: Major Major n'est présent que lorsqu'il est absent.
Il s'agit d'un roman américain, dans le genre absurde, et sur l'absurdité de la guerre (ww2) - excellent, mais je ne crois pas qu'il a été traduit en Français - car La France est administrée sur les principes de Catch 22 (sans le savoir) et, par conséquent, on ne le trouverait pas drôle.
Explication du "piège n° 22" sur demande . . . mais je ne m'y lance pas comme ça . . . il est l'heure de s'attabler :)

AZLOON IF YOU ARE READING, ADVISE DOZE OFF NOW!! :)
PS "My ADSL connection runs erratically since last wednesday - is that ok?
NON!
"My ADSL connection HAS BEEN RUNNING erratically FOR the last few days"
or "My ADSL connection HAS BEEN PLAYING UP FOR the last few days".
OUI et OUI
Continuous past - especially if it keeps on doing it!
Check with Maggie for the current name of that tense - I find they differ from language to language - and she will probably exlain the rule with use of "since" in English better thatn I can.
Eg: I've been waiting here since 11 o'clock.
Eg: My ADSL connection has been faulty since last Tuesday.

Seems to suggest a specific moment in the past, leading up to and including the present moment.

[Maggie G]

Okay, for the people who are interested, here is a final explanation.

"Hier la reine est allée à Lisbon" translates into "Yesterday the Queen went to Lisbon".

But just "La reine est allée à Lisbon" translates into either "The Queen has gone to Lisbon" or "The Queen went to Lisbon", depending on the context.

Then "Mon ADSL débloque depuis mercredi dernier" translates into "My ADSL HAS RUN erratically since last Wednesday" or "Mon ADSL HAS BEEN RUNNING erratically since last Wednesday".

But just "Mon ADSL débloque" translate into "My ADSL RUNS erratically" or "Mon ADSL IS RUNNING erratically".

First point:
In "La reine est allée à Lisbon", it is the PASSé COMPOSé which translates into the present perfect, whereas in "Mon ASDL débloque depuis mercredi", it is the PRESENT which translates into the present perfect.

Obviously, this confuses French people -- that the present perfect can be either the present or the past in French.

It didn't even occur to Daniel to say "Mon ADSL débloque depuis mercredi" in the present prefect because in his mind he associates the present perfect with the passé composé, not with the présent. Without going into a major explanation, I will just say again: the word DEPUIS in a sentence in the present in French is a big signal that in English the sentence will be present perfect.

Second point:
Why did Dot translate it into "My ESDL HAS BEEN RUNNING erratically" and not "MY ASDL HAS RUN erratically "?

If you say "My ADSL RUNS erratically", it gives the impression that your ADSL ALWAYS runs erratically -- that that is the normal state of affairs. Whereas if you say "Mon ADSL IS RUNNING erratically, it gives more the impression that the ADSL is running erratically AT THE MOMENT. (I assume most people understand the basic difference between the simple present and the present continuous, which is a separate issue from the question of the present perfect.)

So obviously, if you add SINCE to the sentence, you change RUNS to HAS RUN, and IS RUNNING to HAS BEEN RUNNING.

Therefore "Mon ADSL débloque depuis mercredi dernier" translates best into "Mon ADSL has been running erratically since last Wednesday" (from a grammatical point of view, that is -- you could use other vocabulary if you wanted).

No matter what Azloon says, all native English speakers know this stuff instinctively and speak it correctly, even if they would have no idea why if asked to explain.

And even if we understand perfectly well what French people are saying, and don't mind at all that they say some things slightly oddly, sometimes the French people themselves really want to speak correctly. As Romain and Valentin have pointed out, French people aren't very keen on pidgin English or pidgin French. So they deserve a clear explanation.

SUMMARY Don't use the present perfect if you specify when something happened ("yesterday", "when I was ten" etc)

Do use it with SINCE/DEPUIS.

There are some other situations in which the present perfect is used, but I'm not gonna say any more.

PS

Mon ADSL has been running erratically SINCE Monday, SINCE November 16th, SINCE the cat died, SINCE that thunder storm last week.

Mon ADSL has been running erratically FOR ten days, FOR three weeks, FOR six months. (Ca fait (dix jours) (trois semaines) (six mois) que mon ADSL débloque.) [ "Ca fait" = "depuis".]

[dot king]

Maggie - I think that amounts to what I said, thank goodness!

[Daniel Strohl]

Maggie G,

Thanks - I have got it - I hope I will remember it.

PS : In French, "Lisbon" is "Lisbonne" .))

"but I'm not gonna say any more" - the grammar seems to be somewhat azloonesque .))

[Valentin]

"Therefore "Mon ADSL débloque depuis mercredi dernier" translates best into "Mon ADSL has been running erratically since last Wednesday" (from a grammatical point of view, that is -- "

Yes, that's how i learnt it too.

"all native English speakers know this stuff instinctively and speak it correctly, even if they would have no idea why if asked"

Exactly, even the non native, at some point you start to use your nose and speak as felt in different conversations with the native. And sometimes you realize that's actually a grammar rule you've learnt long long ago (for instance here I've just added a 've before learnt, not exactly sure why!)

[PJB]

Maggie G: "SUMMARY Don't use the present perfect if you specify when something happened ("yesterday", "when I was ten" etc)". Very good rule.

Valentin: "And sometimes you realize that's actually a grammar rule you've learnt long long ago (for instance here I've just added a 've before learnt, not exactly sure why!)" - both formulations are correct, slight nuance of emphasis which French will not translate (don't be jealous - you can stump the english in return with a passé simple). Why is there a nuance? because you (you've) used two words when one would have been sufficient, and lengthened the sound slightly, adding a soft consonant at the end (perhaps the equally correct - grammatically - "you have" simply places too much emphasis, by adding an extra syllable).

[Valentin]

"used two words when one would have been sufficient, and lengthened the sound slightly, adding a soft consonant at the end"

Phonetics, you say? Mm.
Reminds me of those English kids who say "I would'of" and have no idea what the of/ov/'ve is all about.
Or about the so many British journalists saying trepple or treble instead of triple. Funny, coming from educated people.

I tend to agree with your saying americans prefer did go rather than have gone, while the British have it conversely. I wonder why.
I'll look up some dictionaries.

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa110698.htm

"In British English the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. For example:
I've lost my key. Can you help me look for it?
In American English the following is also possible:
I lost my key. Can you help me look for it?

In British English the above would be considered incorrect. However, both forms are generally accepted in standard American English. Other differences involving the use of the present perfect in British English and simple past in American English include already, just and yet."

EnglishClub.com :

"Americans do not use the present perfect tense so much as British speakers. Americans often use the past tense instead. An American might say "Did you have lunch?", where a British person would say "Have you had lunch?""

"The present perfect tense is used to express action that has been completed with respect to the present. It is considered a present tense, not a past tense, since the resulting state is in the present."

"s'il s'agit du résultat présent d'une action dans le passé (Ex. Look! I've bought a new car — la voiture est le résultat visible de ce que je viens de faire)"

"We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important."

"..to describe your experience - like saying, "I have the experience of..." The Present Perfect is NOT used to describe a specific event."

"..to say that an action which we expected has not happened.Present Perfect suggests that we are still waiting for the action to happen." ("The rain hasn't stopped")

"With Non-Continuous Verbs and non-continuous uses of Mixed Verbs, we use the Present Perfect to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now"
("She has been in England for six months.")

[dot king]

"I've lost my key. Can you help me look for it?"
tsk tsk Valentin

I've lost my key. Could you help me look for it, please?

Restons polis! :)