SOME PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS (WITH SOME ONLINE EXCERPTS) Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. The content of this post is presented for cultural and linguistic purposes. Teenagers' Slang" by Pascal Tréguer and an excerpt of a 2012 National Public Radio (NPR) transcript of a "Fresh Air" segment about Bobby Charles, the composer of the song "See You Later, Alligator". Part II presents an excerpt of the 2020 article ‘See You Later Alligator ' Originated In U.S. Information about Bobby Charles and information about Bill Hailey & The Comets are included in Part I along with the lyrics for the song "See You Later Alligator".Ĭlick for Part II of this pancocojams series. The first example is a sound file by Bobby Charles, that song's composer and the second is a YouTube video of Bill Hailey & The Comets performing the most popular cover recording of that song. Part I showcases two YouTube examples of this song. Part III of this pancocojams series includes my editorial comments and some article excerpts that I believe corroborate my position that the sayings "See you later, alligator", and "Afterwhile, crocodile" originated from and were first popularized by Black Americans.Ĭlick for Part I of this pancocojams series. alligator and its usual response "After while, crocodile". The joke and the fun from rhyming two unrelated words is completely lost when translated into English, but remembering the equally nonsensical see ya later alligator makes it easy to appreciate.This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on the popular catchphrases "See You Later. Le jeu (the game) is all about finding some form of transportation that rhymes with a unit of time. There’s even one for when you’ll never meet again: À plus dans le bus is actually part of many similar sayings that take on the same format: I couldn’t find l’origine (the origin), but I did learn something better. I was still curious about l’expression française and why it mentions le busso I decided to look it up once I had the time. While it turns out there isn’t an equivalent French idiom involving les alligators et les crocodiles, a lot of laughs were shared as we both struggled to understand new expressions. See ya later alligator! After a while crocodile!ĭo you have the same expression in French? I just realized that there’s a similar expression in English! À plus l’alligator ! À bientôt le crocodile !Įst-ce qu’on a la mème expression en français ?Īh yes! You still don’t understand what it means? Je viens de me rendre compte d’une expression similaire en anglais ! Tu te souviens de ce que tu viens de dire ?Īh oui ! Tu ne comprends toujours pas qu’est-ce que ça veut dire ? Remembering the silly saying, I immediately got up and asked mon collègue about it to see if my childhood expression also exists en français: Growing up, I often used a similar joke with ma mère (my mother) all the time: Satisfied with a basic understanding of l’expression, I gave a quick smile and returned to mon bureau (my desk).Īfter sitting down though, I suddenly realized why something absolutely nonsensical made so much sense to me. However, unlike what usually happens with les nouvelles expressions, once mon collègue repeated it, I understand what it meant and how it was tied to l’humour (humor). After our brief exchange, they said what was for me une nouvelle phrase (a new sentence): à plus dans le bus.īien sûr (of course), I didn’t understand it and immediately gave a puzzled « quoi » (“what?”) as a response. This saying came up while I was talking with un collègue (a coworker) the other day. Pushing the limits of le second degré (sarcasm) even makes some sense in a dry humor kind of way. L’expression itself is actually easier to understand than others that are dripped in metaphors or tied to specific cultural references:Įven though the dans le bus (on the bus) part makes absolutely no sense when you’re unfamiliar with l’expression, it’s easy to accept that it’s just une blague (a joke). Of the many expressions I’ve misunderstood over the years, there is one that recently came up that particularly stands out.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |