Dame. Dame, a contraction of dominus, lord, ia used

popularly as an interjection of afiBrmation. ‘ Why, yes !’

1.— Ça nous cassait bras et jambes. Casser bras et jambes, lit. ‘ to break arms and legs, ’ is fam. for enlever tout moyen d^agir, to deprive of every means of acting. Render : ‘ that made us powerless.’

3. — Cogner. Generally cogner is used in such phrases as cogner un clou, drive a nail. Sometimes, as here, \t=frapper ; il a cogné à la porte=il a frappé à la porte.