L’humour français

Le 1er avril On the 1st of April, everyone has to pay attention to avoid being the victim of practical jokes and general foolishness. It is the ideal day for children (and grown- ups alike!) to tell funny jokes to those around them, including family members, friends, teachers, neighbours, colleagues at work, etc.

Les origines In France, April Fools’ Day is known for the “poisson d’avril” (April Fish) which dates back to 1564. The origin of the April Fish in France is quite obscure, maybe it was reminescent of the ichtus used by Christians in the Roman era. According to popular beliefs, the New Year used to start on the 1st April up to the mid-sixteenth century. But as King of France, Charles IX wanted the year to start on the 1st January, he made a swift change to the French calendar and made it official on the Edict of Roussillon. Legend has it that some people were not at all happy with this enforced law for many reasons, and continued to celebrate the new year in their own way around the 1st April. The people who embraced the new calendar started to mock the reluctant ones and gave them false presents and played tricks on them.

Les origines During that time, the 1st April coincided with the end of Lent when the Church forbade Christians to eat meat. Fish was tolerated and was often used in the offering of gifts for the New Year. When the jokes started to become more common, false fish were often used to trick the victim. There lies the legendary origin of April Fish, stuck on the back of the fools, those who did not accept the changing times or who saw the world through their own eyes only.

Poisson d’avril Nowadays, April Fish are made and coloured by children at school or at home and you have to hang your fish in the back of a person (preferably your instructor) without them noticing

La troupe du Splendide Famed French actors from the theater company “le Splendide” star in this 1979 movie about a group of annoying and intolerant Parisian going on vacations to the mountains! A French classic comedy! Les Bronzés font du ski, bande annonce:

Louis de Funès France’s most beloved comic actor, with a style influenced by circus, slapstick comedies and Chaplin was Louis de Funès, always depicting the angry and intolerant French man. He famously improvised some of his biggest jokes on screen such as his impersonation of Hitler explaining how to make mashed potatoes to a German customer, in hit comedy “Le grand restaurant”: Hitler explains a recipe

La grande vadrouille La Grande Vadrouille is a 1966 French comedy about two ordinary Frenchmen helping the crew of a Royal Air Force bomber shot down over Paris make their way through German-occupied France to escape arrest. For over forty years, until the release of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis in 2008, La Grande Vadrouille was the most successful French film in France, In the famed “bains turcs” scene, the two French men are trying to locate the English “Big mustach” in the parisian turkish bath. They sing the secret code song but they got the wrong “Big Mustach”! Tea for Two

Rabbi Jacob In this beloved popular French comedy, Louis de Funes portrays a racist Frenchman confronted to his prejudices. The bigoted Frenchman finds himself forced to impersonate a popular rabbi while on the run from a group of assassins - and the police. In this scene, he complains to his chauffeur about the Swiss, German, Belgium cars sharing the French road with him, only to be insulted by a French driver. Finally, he expresses his racism while seeing a mixed wedding, but there is a twist! He then discovers that his driver, Salomon, is “not Catholic like everybody else” but Jewish! Rabbi Jacob

Bienvenue chez les ch’tis A French public servant from Provence is banished to the far North. Strongly prejudiced against this cold and inhospitable place, he leaves his family behind to relocate temporarily there, with the firm intent to quickly come back: bienvenue chez les chtis

Le vocabulaire du rire Une farce : a practical joke, a prank Une blague : a joke (physical or verbal) Une plaisanterie : a joke (verbal) Une histoire drôle : a joke, a funny story (only verbal) Un jeu de mot : a pun Faire une farce : to make a joke Dire/faire une blague : to say/make a joke

Le vocabulaire du rire Blaguer : to joke (je blague) Plaisanter : to joke Drôle, amusant, comique, poilant/marrant/rigolo (slang), cocasse (very formal) : funny Hilarant : extremely funny Sourire : to smile Le sourire : smile Rire : to laugh Le rire : laugher Rigoler : to laugh (colloquial)

Le vocabulaire du rire La rigolade : laughter (colloquial) Un fou rire : when you cannot stop laughing Hurler de rire : to laugh really hard and loud (!! nothing to do with ‘to hurl’) Éclater de rire : to burst in laughter, to start laughing really hard Pleurer de rire : to cry from laughter Se taper une barre (de rire)/des barres de rire : to laugh till it hurts (a new expressions used by the younger crowd nowadays) Je suis mort(e) de rire : dead laughing = MDR Je suis pété(e) de rire : broken in two from laughter (also j’ai pété de rire: I farted from laughing) = PTR MDR, PTR = LOL