Le 14 Juillet
I can't believe I almost forgot Bastille Day! I would have, too, if I hadn't eaten at Mon Ami Gabi tonight and seen their red, white, and blue balloons!
Allons enfants de la patrie,Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé ! (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes,
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes !
Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
Marchons ! Marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !
But with all the triumphant populism, before it all went so horribly bad, I do feel compelled to remember to link to an old post of Bill Poser's which notes
On this day we celebrate the French Revolution, the end of feudalism, the disestablishment of the church, and the promulgation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. For some of us it is also a day that reminds us of Jim McCawley.
From a linguistic point of view, however, the French Revolution was a disaster. The monarchy had been largely unconcerned with what languages its subjects spoke. At the time, the languages spoken by natives of France included six Romance languages: French, Occitan, Franco-Provencal, Walloon, Catalan, and Corsican (a dialect of Italian), the Germanic languages Flemish and German, the Celtic language Breton, and Basque. Some of these, especially French and Occitan, each had numerous divergent forms. ...
Since the Revolution, all French governments have been hostile to minority languages.
Labels: miscellaneous, poetry
4 Comments:
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At 2:22 PM, July 15, 2012
Kathie had this to say...
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At 2:48 PM, July 15, 2012
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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At 2:49 PM, July 15, 2012
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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At 11:02 PM, July 15, 2012
Kathie had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->Anyone else have a problem with that "Qu'un sang impur" line? It may be (well past) time to rewrite that lyric a bit.
I'm sure lots of people do. It's of its time. Plus a call to war, which are generally not PC. Cf the last verse of "Marylan, my Maryland!"
I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!
Also, MMM has a tendency to make teenagers giggle hysterically at that last line, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.
What else would one expect from a state with the motto "Fatti Maschii Parole Femine"? (Remember that I lived in your neck o' the woods long ago). High time to change sexist and/or racist official words everywhere.
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