sens d' une phrase.. Je suis en train de lire un livre (c'est La tête d' un homme par Georges Simenon) et je ne comprends pas cette phrase: "Il voyait à peine Maigret tellement la fumée de pipe était épaisse." Merci beaucoup d'avance si vous pouvez m'aider! :)

some of them vs some of these In the sentence: "There are various solutions. Some of them are..." can I also say: "There are various solutions. Some of these are..." ? Which one is grammatically correct? Is it possible that in spoken English, both forms can be used? Thanks very much, in advance! :)

video amusante (Le Parisien) Aujourd'hui j'ai regardé deux videos très amusantes. Ce sont pubs pour le journal "Le Parisien". Ce ne sont pas très flatteuses pour les Parisiens mais ce sont drôle :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utYyB96u0uw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUxl6okcao

video interessant avec mots français! Cette video est comme une petite leçon de français élémentaires! Et aussi j'aime la musique dans la video. J'espère que vous l'aimez :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzicqExJW3A

stagger/totter What's the difference between 'totter' and 'stagger'? They both mean 'walk unsteadily'.. Can you provide an example of usage?

"Aliens' police" : a translation issue I have recently come across a translated sign from Greek that read: Aliens' Police, Lavrion It meant to refer to the police immigration department. I know that an "alien" can mean a foreigner in English, but do you think this is a good sentence in English or will it make people think of E.T.??? :D

Polite form in french - when is it used? When and to who do we use the polite form in French (vous êtes... etc)? I know it's used for people that you don't know, or older people perhaps, but is it only then? From movies I've watched it seems to me that even people with a great degree of intimacy use the polite form and rarely have I heard someone use the second person singular.... but maybe I'm wrong. Your feedback would help! :)

What's the best way to learn the French nouns' grammatical gender? I'm trying to make a list and start memorizing some, but they're too many. Any other effective ways that helped you when you learned/taught French?