From these 25 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The fourteenth entry is le patronage, and it is the one word on this page an English reader will render without stopping and get wrong in every particular. « Patronage » with us is what a patron hands out: support for a gallery, custom given to a shop, posts found for friends. Here it is a trade. Le patronage is the drawing of the flat paper pieces into which a curved wooden last has to be translated, and it settles whether the finished shoe fits or merely shuts. The trap is baited, because French does keep a sense close to ours: sous le patronage de heads an official programme, and a parish youth club has been un patronage for a century. So the familiar reading is available on the page, and in a workshop it is never the right one. Two consequences worth carrying away. The person who does the work is un patronnier, who is nobody’s patron. And a firm advertising patronage et gradation is offering pattern cutting and sizing, which is a service and not a kindness.
le montage cousu trépointewelted constructionNoun (m)C2
Le montage cousu trépointe permet de ressemeler sans abîmer la tige.Welted construction lets a repairer lift the sole off without ever touching the upper.
le montage collécemented constructionNoun (m)C2
Le montage collé va vite et se répare mal.Cemented construction is quick, cheap, and close to impossible to mend.
le montage de la tigelastingNoun (m)C2
Le montage de la tige se fait à la pince et à chaud.Lasting is done with pincers and heat, and the leather is pulled until it gives.
le bout durthe toe puffNoun (m)C2
Le bout dur garde la pointe en forme.A toe puff keeps the front standing when there is no foot inside.
le contrefortthe heel counterNoun (m)C2
Le contrefort tient le talon en place.Without a heel counter the back of the shoe folds in on itself within a month.
le cambrionthe shankNoun (m)C2
Le cambrion soutient la voûte du pied.A steel shank runs under the arch and stops the waist flattening.
le patronagepattern cuttingNoun (m)C2
Le patronage traduit la forme en morceaux de cuir plats.Pattern cutting turns a rounded last into flat pieces that will close over it again.
le cuir à tannage végétalvegetable-tanned leatherNoun (m)C2
Le cuir à tannage végétal fonce avec le temps.Vegetable-tanned leather darkens over the years and keeps a record of the light.
le lustrage de la trancheedge burnishingNoun (m)C2
Le lustrage de la tranche ferme le bord du cuir.Edge burnishing seals the cut side of the leather so that water finds no way in.
le ressemelageresolingNoun (m)C2
Le ressemelage coûte moins qu’une paire neuve.Resoling costs a fraction of a new pair and is over in a week.
l’embauchoirthe shoe treeNoun (m)C2
L’embauchoir absorbe l’humidité de la journée.A shoe tree goes in while the leather is still warm and draws out the damp of the day.
