This is a story I heard from an old retired gendarme. When Kennedy had DeGaulle as a guest at a grand state dinner in Washington, he was seated next to Jackie, the First Lady. Having been educated at the Sorbonne and speaking fluent French, and being of French ancestry, she turned to DeGaulle and said to him in perfect French, you know, Mister President, I am of French ancestry. Without skipping a beat, DeGaulle replied, "oh? Me too!"
What De Gaulle said to Dejean was a little more subtle than what you have translated there, he would never have said the equivalent of 'f**k'. What he said was - "Alors, on couche Dejean ?" which really means "Oh you've been sleeping (or lying down) (with someone), have you, Dejean ?" I remember a BBC correspondent in Paris who explained that at one point, De Gaulle wanted to use the name of the ultimate spy as an example or as an illustration of something he wanted to express, so he said James Bond, which was quite easy to pronounce and would be understandable for a French audience. He was careful not to use the name of the actor who played James Bond at that time as it is very similar to a certain vulgar French word - Sean Connery. Another famous one, which is difficult to translate is when someone in the audience shouted out "Morts aux cons", which means 'death to stupid idiots', it's quite vulgar and it doesn't really mean very much. De Gaulle fired back immediately with ' Vaste programme, monsieur, vaste programme' - which could be translated as 'that's an enormous task, monsieur.' (there are lots and lots of them). That is typical French humour.
En tant que Canadien Français (Ontarien, pas Québécois, il faut bien préciser) j’apprécie l'inclusion de la photo de Trudeau autant que celle de John Diefenbaker à coté de de Gaulle (peu de gens pigeront celle-là, j’en suis convaincu). Anecdote qu’on m`a raconté en France lors d’un séjour il y a bien longtemps : de Gaulle avait fait une visite diplomatique en Amérique latine en 1964, dans le but d’e**erder un peu les Americains. En préparant la visite il aurait demandé par télex un conseil à un ambassadeur de France en poste en Amérique latine, sous la forme d’une question s’il fallait faire ‘A’ ou ‘B’. L’ambassade répondit : ‘oui’. De Gaulle aurait riposté : ‘Oui, quoi?’ Et l’ambassadeur se serait corrigé : ‘Oui, mon général!’ Bon, apocryphe au possible sans doute, mais celui qui m’avait raconté celle-là m’avait aussi fait part de la savoureuse ‘Toujours aussi con, Massu? - ‘Toujours Gaulliste, mon général’. (Avouons que celle-là perd quelque chose traduite en anglais . . . )
On raconte qu'à propos de "champagne" canadien produit au bord des Grands Lacs, il aurait dit : "il faut autant de courage pour produire du champagne au bord des Grands Lacs, qu'il faudrait de courage pour ramener les Grands Lacs en Champagne". Et les producteurs en question l'auraient pris à tort pour un compliment...
What so special about Charlie? From our Anglo-Saxon prospective all he did was cry about Brits and Americans fighing to help France like we were the Nazis instead of the Germans.
I can understand when the great men of Canada are Jacques Cartier, the Marquis de Montcalm and Cavellier de la Salle... Oops, no those were French. Sad people...
@@RW77777777 Yes, but the man was much more than these little anecdotes, he saw that the USA wanted to be hegemonic way before others and fought them, he fought to have a major seat at the UNO, he's the one that launched France energy autonomy with nuclear power, he launched the tomorrow (today's) infrastructures big work (airports, highways, faster trains, etc). He was also placing he's country above all and left his place as a president when the referendum voted against him, and last (well, far from it with such a man) but not the least, he had an energy counter installed for his dwelling at the palace of élysée and was paying his invoice like any other french family. We have had a funny and observant reporter in Paris long ago (Jules Claretie) that said a thing you should _always_ remember, because it is funny and so true : "Each man that manage, that does something, has against him those who wanted to do the same thing, those that are precisely doing the opposite, and above all the great army of people all the more severe as they do nothing at all." ("Tout homme qui dirige, qui fait quelque chose, a contre lui ceux qui voudraient faire la même chose, ceux qui font précisément le contraire, et surtout la grande armée des gens d'autant plus sévères qu'ils ne font rien du tout.")
@@CROM-on1bzArrogant little Frenchies. Have some respect for our Canadian allies, they were after all saving your country for you while you were doing collaboration 😂
A "Canadian"... you mean from Canada, a "country" which will not exist anymore in a not so distant future ? Just listen to Donald Trump and to what he said about your "country" which "might as well become the 51st state of the USA". By saying "the 51 states", Donald exaggerates a bit of course, but this is his hallmark after all. Canada will not be become only one state, but will be split in several states. if you had a Canadian De Gaulle, with real leadership, endowed with vision and a sense of history, you could maybe avoid such an ineluctable end...
De Gaulle once went to Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. When he came away he said " This is not a serious country".
Can't believe this guy had de Gaulle to come up with these punchlines.
boo
de Gaulle fought an impossible fight and won, he deserves to have no chill
My absolute favourite "de Gaulleism" is not here:
He was being interviewed, and was asked: "Are you happy?"
"What do you think I am? An idiot??"
This is a story I heard from an old retired gendarme. When Kennedy had DeGaulle as a guest at a grand state dinner in Washington, he was seated next to Jackie, the First Lady. Having been educated at the Sorbonne and speaking fluent French, and being of French ancestry, she turned to DeGaulle and said to him in perfect French, you know, Mister President, I am of French ancestry.
Without skipping a beat, DeGaulle replied, "oh? Me too!"
The amazing thing is the extent to which De Gaulle had so much, and so little, in common with his country.
I’d never heard these. Thanks for uploading
Glad I found your channel, subbed!
What De Gaulle said to Dejean was a little more subtle than what you have translated there, he would never have said the equivalent of 'f**k'. What he said was - "Alors, on couche Dejean ?" which really means "Oh you've been sleeping (or lying down) (with someone), have you, Dejean ?" I remember a BBC correspondent in Paris who explained that at one point, De Gaulle wanted to use the name of the ultimate spy as an example or as an illustration of something he wanted to express, so he said James Bond, which was quite easy to pronounce and would be understandable for a French audience. He was careful not to use the name of the actor who played James Bond at that time as it is very similar to a certain vulgar French word - Sean Connery.
Another famous one, which is difficult to translate is when someone in the audience shouted out "Morts aux cons", which means 'death to stupid idiots', it's quite vulgar and it doesn't really mean very much. De Gaulle fired back immediately with ' Vaste programme, monsieur, vaste programme' - which could be translated as 'that's an enormous task, monsieur.' (there are lots and lots of them). That is typical French humour.
I remember him from the sixties. The guy was a hoot. But all I can think of now is Monty Python.
En tant que Canadien Français (Ontarien, pas Québécois, il faut bien préciser) j’apprécie l'inclusion de la photo de Trudeau autant que celle de John Diefenbaker à coté de de Gaulle (peu de gens pigeront celle-là, j’en suis convaincu). Anecdote qu’on m`a raconté en France lors d’un séjour il y a bien longtemps : de Gaulle avait fait une visite diplomatique en Amérique latine en 1964, dans le but d’e**erder un peu les Americains. En préparant la visite il aurait demandé par télex un conseil à un ambassadeur de France en poste en Amérique latine, sous la forme d’une question s’il fallait faire ‘A’ ou ‘B’. L’ambassade répondit : ‘oui’. De Gaulle aurait riposté : ‘Oui, quoi?’ Et l’ambassadeur se serait corrigé : ‘Oui, mon général!’ Bon, apocryphe au possible sans doute, mais celui qui m’avait raconté celle-là m’avait aussi fait part de la savoureuse ‘Toujours aussi con, Massu? - ‘Toujours Gaulliste, mon général’. (Avouons que celle-là perd quelque chose traduite en anglais . . . )
On raconte qu'à propos de "champagne" canadien produit au bord des Grands Lacs, il aurait dit : "il faut autant de courage pour produire du champagne au bord des Grands Lacs, qu'il faudrait de courage pour ramener les Grands Lacs en Champagne". Et les producteurs en question l'auraient pris à tort pour un compliment...
Cool ,keep it up .
I think there is a lot lost in translation
What so special about Charlie? From our Anglo-Saxon prospective all he did was cry about Brits and Americans fighing to help France like we were the Nazis instead of the Germans.
You have to admire a stateless man who insults his host while begging for military assistance.
Hmm - hardly compares to Churchill.
Snore
They should bring back the white flag from the bourbon times, would make so many awesome punchlines... 🤣
The more I learn about de Gaulle, the more I dislike him. A Canadian.
he sounds like a real jerk!
I can understand when the great men of Canada are Jacques Cartier, the Marquis de Montcalm and Cavellier de la Salle... Oops, no those were French. Sad people...
@@RW77777777 Yes, but the man was much more than these little anecdotes, he saw that the USA wanted to be hegemonic way before others and fought them, he fought to have a major seat at the UNO, he's the one that launched France energy autonomy with nuclear power, he launched the tomorrow (today's) infrastructures big work (airports, highways, faster trains, etc).
He was also placing he's country above all and left his place as a president when the referendum voted against him, and last (well, far from it with such a man) but not the least, he had an energy counter installed for his dwelling at the palace of élysée and was paying his invoice like any other french family.
We have had a funny and observant reporter in Paris long ago (Jules Claretie) that said a thing you should _always_ remember, because it is funny and so true : "Each man that manage, that does something, has against him those who wanted to do the same thing, those that are precisely doing the opposite, and above all the great army of people all the more severe as they do nothing at all."
("Tout homme qui dirige, qui fait quelque chose, a contre lui ceux qui voudraient faire la même chose, ceux qui font précisément le contraire, et surtout la grande armée des gens d'autant plus sévères qu'ils ne font rien du tout.")
@@CROM-on1bzArrogant little Frenchies. Have some respect for our Canadian allies, they were after all saving your country for you while you were doing collaboration 😂
A "Canadian"... you mean from Canada, a "country" which will not exist anymore in a not so distant future ? Just listen to Donald Trump and to what he said about your "country" which "might as well become the 51st state of the USA". By saying "the 51 states", Donald exaggerates a bit of course, but this is his hallmark after all. Canada will not be become only one state, but will be split in several states. if you had a Canadian De Gaulle, with real leadership, endowed with vision and a sense of history, you could maybe avoid such an ineluctable end...