What's the French for........?

We had hoped that Jan could leave hospital today, but it will now be Monday.

She was visited by a very nice senior female cardiologist yesterday who spoke perfect English and who answered all Jan's outstanding questions. In fact they got on so well that the cardio started to ask Jan's advice about having more children and asked her to help find an au pair to help her young children with their English. Yet more proof, if proof were ever needed, that if you put two women in a room together they can and will talk about absolutely anything.

Whilst we get by with speaking and reading French when we start to listen to technical language that's when it becomes more difficult and you start to rely more on your sense of what's being said. That's why we both attend non-routine doctor's appointments. The old four eyes, four ears principle. Anyway at 08.00 this morning I'm sitting at the computer (see what the bachelor life leads to), when Jan calls. She is also awake early and is bored already. After all the usual small talk she got round to the burning question of the moment, "can you look in the dictionary and tell me the French word for constipation." Not a terribly technical term but an important one nevertheless. For the linguistically inclined amongst you, it's the same word but said with a French accent.