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My tailor is rich | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4899 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 1 of 6 01 June 2013 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been reading Le Petit Nicolas recently, and I came across a reference to the line "My tailor is rich", which I have heard is from the old version of Anglais sans peine.
In the Petit Nicolas story "Djodjo", the school is visited by a boy who only speaks English. Agnan, who is the first in the class and the chouchou of the maitresse, claims to speak English. Here is the whole section
I have also recently read the book, "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke, which has a running joke based on the phrase. They are trying to start an English tea room, and the French characters think the name should be "My Tea is Rich". So, this phrase seems to be a part of French consciousness. Can anyone give any other references? I've heard that it's mentioned in one of the Asterix comics, but I'm not sure which one. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6358 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 6 01 June 2013 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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From Wikipedia,
"[My tailor is rich] a été parodiée et reprise de nombreuses fois, par exemple dans La Cantatrice chauve, Astérix chez les Bretons, Le Petit Nicolas (histoire "Djodjo") ou Le Gendarme à New York mais elle est aussi utilisée en aviation pour la même raison de parodie." I never would have thought that it was referenced so much. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5659 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 6 03 June 2013 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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"My tailor is rich" is the first line from the first ever Assimil book (Anglais sans Peine - written in the late 1920s). Hence, it is the first English sentence that many French people came across when learning English, giving them fond memories of it.
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4697 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 4 of 6 03 June 2013 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I referenced it once during a French class and the prof knew of it.
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 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5199 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 6 04 June 2013 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Emk recently found a copy of the Assimil biography, which is also entitled My Tailor is Rich, and
posted a short review here: Link - And isn't Petit Nicolas delightful? - If you're enjoying it, there are numerous other titles in the series. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4899 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 6 of 6 04 June 2013 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Today I heard about another work of art inspired by Assimil. Eugène Ionesco was inspired to write play The Bald Soprano (La Cantatrice Chauve) while trying to learn English with Assimil. It seems the play is made up of meaningless banter and discussions, much like the way one Assimil lesson follows another.
Wikipedia article This was mentioned on a Duolingo thread, which also said that the play is not that hard to read in French. @songlines: it was you who inspired me to pick up Le Petit Nicolas. I have the book in French, of which I am on my second reading, and the CD's in French, to which I have listened 4-5 times. I am understanding more and more with each listening, and will start one of the other titles once I've read this one 3-4 times. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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