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French: Help me get the joke (I think) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4264 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes  Speaks: English*, German | Message 1 of 8 20 October 2013 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Last night I watched one of the craziest movies I've ever seen. It was called "Touche pas à la femme blanche" (Don't Touch the White Woman). It was a "western" set in Paris in the United States. Most characters wore 19th century clothing, but one man hangs around wearing a University of Denver sweat shirt. They made Paris look old-fashioned western with soldiers in US Civil War outfits riding horses down cobblestone streets upon which modern cars were parked. Richard Nixon was president and his portrait was everywhere. The story is about a conflict between the US Army, lead by General Custer, and Native Americans lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse (his name literally translated into French as "Cheval Fou.)"
Here's what I think is probably a joke. Catherine Deneuve stars as "Marie-Hélène de Boismonfrais." That's a silly sounding name. As near as I can tell, that last name means, "drink my fee" or "drink my costs." Is that a reference to her being a golddigger or does it have a sexual meaning? I'm just not sure if there's a joke hidden in her name. I don't think "Boismonfrais" is a typical French last name and it does sound pretty silly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4571 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 2 of 8 21 October 2013 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
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The word « frais » in the sense of a fee is always used in the plural in French. So if that translation were going to
work, her name would have to be « Boismesfrais ». Perhaps they mean it in the sense of "cool" or "cold". I haven't seen the film, but I don't catch any particular joke in this name. Maybe it's a cultural reference specific to France. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spiderkat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5606 days ago 175 posts - 248 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 8 21 October 2013 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't see any particular joke either. Since the word "bois" could also be wood or woods, so it could have been Monboisfrais. But in that order the name Boismonfrais simply sounds like one of those names from the past centuries.
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| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4264 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 4 of 8 21 October 2013 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the help. I wasn't sure.
I did look up Crazy Horse in the French version of Wikipedia. He's referred to there as "Crazy Horse," not as "Cheval Fou." I think that was literally translated as a joke, and it does sound ridiculous. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5175 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 8 21 October 2013 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not getting the joke either, if there is one.
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| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4618 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 8 22 October 2013 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't get the joke either. Although, many French names are very funny sounding. For instance:
François Mollat du Jourdain Amaury Mestre de Laroque Eric Jambon Azélina Jaboulet-Vercherre Nicolas Lemaigre-Voreaux Mathieu Petit-Gras Jan Le Moux Philippe Rigollot Christian Têtedoie Gilles Gateau Gilles Grenouilleau Françoise Peureux Clément Poupon Rodolphe Bonasse Bernard Boutboul Bernard Pouchoux 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kazonca Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5190 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English*, Greek* Studies: French | Message 7 of 8 27 February 2014 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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The only thing I can think of is it is made up and perhaps from a sentence like 'Je bois mon coke frais' except with the name of the drink left out. Bois frais could also mean a wood chip , i think?
But I see no joke. Edited by kazonca on 27 February 2014 at 8:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4703 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 8 of 8 28 February 2014 at 12:59am | IP Logged | ||
Of course, in English we have Sean Connery, which must make French people laugh.(Connerie means BS). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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