B is for Bon

Who could ever tire of the fabulous French habit of wishing you all kinds of bon?

We are all familiar with bonjour, we learnt it in school. We may even have ventured into bonsoir and bonne nuit. But who knew there is a whole lexicon of other times and experiences for which a well wisher can cheer us on with a bon?

Out shopping, the shopkeeper will send you off with a smile and a bonne journée, a bon après-midi or a bonne soirée. They might even be more precise, with a bonne fin matinée or fin après-midi.

The bank manager once ushered me off the premises at 12 on the dot with a bonne appétit, the assumption being that at that hour of the day, everyone will be hurrying towards their midday repas.

There's the familiar bon voyage and it's more pragmatic cousin bonne route. Or you could be hailed a bonne promenade as you set off in your walking gear along a hiking trail.

We welcome a bon weekend, or at the least a bonne dimanche, and heave a sigh of joy at the sound of bonnes vacances.

Of course, we expect to be wished a bonne anniversaire, and a bonne fête for whatever we might be celebrating, not forgetting a bon fin d'année as we approach a New Year and bonne année as we launch into it, although interestingly, Christmas is always joyeux and never bon.

(And as a quick aside, it is quite acceptable in France to continue wishing folk a bonne année right up until the end of January. Great news for those of us whose Christmas cards remain unsent well past the 25th of December.)

But one of the quirkier expressions you hear a great deal in France is bon continuation. I've never been able to put my finger on a good enough translation (Google suggests helpfully 'good continuation' but I think we could have worked that out for ourselves). It's used in many different scenarios, and loosely means 'keep up the good work' or 'good luck with it'. It implies an ongoing thing - a project, a problem, a conundrum - and is a hearty wish of moral support.

Finally, the one that always makes me smile. We host French kids in the summer and sometimes a parent will deliver their child then beat a hasty retreat down the path, offering a cheery wave and the words 'bon courage!' We don't need Google translate to help with that one.

So as I reach the end of day 2 of the A to Z Challenge, there remains just one thing for me to say - bon lecture à tous et toutes!