poudre de pirette tétravalente

Discussion in 'French-English Vocabulary / Vocabulaire Français-Anglais' started by jkbelieve, Apr 12, 2007.

  1. jkbelieve New Member

    Korea and Korean
    I have found two more words which the dictionary refuses to accept as being words....

    'pirette' and 'tétravalente'.......

    the whole sentence in which these two words are used is :

    'l'absorption de opudre de pirette tétravalente'

    I just don't understand it, why did 'Marcel Aymé' use such strange words?
  2. Ollo Junior Member

    I knew that Marcel Aymé was strange but I did not remember it was SO strange.

    Good luck ;)
  3. Agnès E.

    Agnès E. Senior Member

    France, French
    No idea about pirette.
    I think tétravalente was coined for fun from the adjectif polyvalent meaning "which has several qualities/effects/attributes". Here, it would mean: which has four effects, I reckon. (Careful! that's just a guess! :p )
  4. Ollo Junior Member

    Tétravalent can also be used in a chemical context. The Carbon for instance can be Tétravalent because it can link with four other elements like in CH4 (Méthane).
  5. Ollo Junior Member

    Is it pirette or pierette (the latter would be a small stone)
  6. french4beth

    french4beth Senior Member

    I found this entry:
    Found here
  7. Paf le chien

    Paf le chien Senior Member

    France-French (Paris)
    In the context, it means nothing but an imaginary product.

    He adds "tetravalent", which is chemical term, to make it look more credible/serious.

    But if you read "Le passe-muraille" and you stop on each joke like that, you're going to spend the rest of your life asking on the forum ! It is full of untraductible jokes (let say... a five a page average)

  8. Paf le chien

    Paf le chien Senior Member

    France-French (Paris)
    Beware : it's just jokes !!!!!

    Have you ever see centauri hurds playing in your garden by night ? :)

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