Description:

Jeannine Marello, market garden stallholder in Cours Lafayette, tells it her way


Les salades de Jeannine sur le marché du cours Lafayette à Toulon

Jeannine Marello is a key figure in the colourful, bustling market in the Cours Lafayette in Toulon.  She enjoys passing the time of day by giving her opinion on just about everything, especially Toulon Rugby Club RCT and Jonny Wilkinson.  Politically incorrect, cheeky, teasing but never cruel, she has been giving her version of the events in the news to the Var Matin for a long time.

Plays on words and argot (slang) – you don’t need to speak French to enjoy a ‘bit of Provence’ by listening to Jeannine’s Provençal accent and the sites and background sounds of the market !
[Salades = lettuces  or  muddle / mess  or  tall stories]


This week Jeannine tells it her way :

Noah part en ‘Barigoule’  –  Yannick Noah is getting worse / going down the drain [partir en barigoule is a Provençal expression. Barigoule referred to a mushroom or a form of cooking ie Artichauts en Barigoule. It is unclear how it became to have its meaning as used here].  Noah, once n° 3 seed in the tennis world and the last French winner of Roland Garros.  He is a favourite French sports person and also a well-known singer

Les déclarations de Noah sur le dôpage – Yannick Noah made highly controversial comments on the performance of Spanish athletes saying that they probably all take performance enhancing drugs unless they have found some magic formula for training, as they leave French athletes standing

Le triple A de la France – the Triple AAA credit rating of France, which was rumoured to have been downgraded

La LGV – the highspeed train link that is causing so much controversy

D’ici qu’elle soit construite, tu auras la carte vermeil – whether it’s built or not, by then we’ll all have our rail pass [now called Carte Sénior – reduced rail travel for over 60s]





The food market in Cours Lafayette is from Tuesday to Sunday inclusive, from 07:30–12:30.  In the afternoon it transforms into a craft and flower market.
Open all year.


Provençal references can be found form the Marius Autran lexican of Provençal terms.

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