Québec Proverbial Sayings
Here are des sagesses et des proverbes québécoises, some little bits of proverbial wisdom, heard in Québec yesterday and today. Some began in la belle province and some echoed across the briny billows all the way from far-off France. The translations into English between quotation marks are my own and are placed after the French text.
1. Marie-toi devant ta porte avec quelqu’un de ta sorte.
“Get married in front of your own farmhouse door to someone of your own social status.”
Here is a bit of rhyme from the repressed, backward days of Old Québec when the fat village priest bossed the entire hameau and wanted everyone to remain an ignorant peasant, while corrupt premiers like Duplessis ran the province of Québec for the sole benefit of themselves and their wealthy, corporate, Anglo cronies. Also on the take were a few select Pepsis such as the Roman Catholic Archbishop.
2. Mieux vaut manger un pain debout qu’un steak à genoux.
“It’s better to eat a scrap of bread standing up than to dine on steak while fallen to your knees.”
Independence beats slavery, even at mealtime.
3. Le plus petit arrangement vaut mieux que le meilleur procès.
“The shortest compromise before court is worth more than the longest trial.”
4. Le coq gratte puis la poule ramasse.
“The roosters scratches, but the hen gets to eat the grain.”
This may have several meanings. A feminist friend of mine in Québec takes this proverb as a putdown of male bullying and bragging.
5. Le nez le plus long n’est pas toujours le meilleur senteur.
“The longest nose isn’t always the best smeller.”
Sometimes, in attempting to sniff out the truth, subtlety is preferable to nosy meddling.
6. Il est bien difficile, en géographie comme en morale, de connaître le monde sans sortir de chez soi.
“It’s quite tricky, in geography as in morals, to know the world if you never leave your own house.”
This sentence, proverbial in form, did not originate in Québec. It was written by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694 CE-1778) in his Dictionnaire philosophique (1764). An excellent rebuke it is, to know-nothing, born-again religious bigots denouncing a wide world of which they are ignorant, having never ventured beyond the fetid confines of their kitchen sinks or their even more malodorous altars. You can’t understand human life or our glorious earth unless you go forth into it, to taste both its bounty and its terror. The condemnation of secular doings by cross-clutchers hiding behind their pantry curtains, lurking, sneaking, instead of living, is an empty reproach.
7. Ce qu’on laisse sur la table fait plus de bien que ce qu’on y prend.
“What you leave on the table does more good than what you take away.”
This alimentary nugget can be read as an early injunction warning the obese to eat less. It also invokes the wisdom of being charitable. But its more general counsel declares to the reader: be moderate in all activities. Thus the proverb is very similar in meaning to the ancient Greek imperative: μηδὲν ἄγαν mēdèn ágan “nothing in excess,” an inscription over the gates to the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Another Greek motto of similar import was μέτρον ἄριστον métron áriston “moderation wins” literally ‘the middle course is best.’ Whether feuding or fête-ing, not too much, not too little, both are good choices.
8. Ça commence par un baiser, ça finit par un bébé.
“What begins with a kiss can finish with the birth of a baby.”
9. Chaque chaudron trouve son couvercle.
“Every pot finds its lid.”
This shockingly physical reference to sexual compatibility (shocking for a folk saying), traditionally said by a mother to her daughter, states that there is a male lid to “cover” every female pot. The saying exists in German and Dutch and almost every language of Europe. The inherent male chauvinist prejudice is not shocking found in a folk saying, for older examples of folksy “wisdom” abound in oinkiness.
10. L'amitié, c'est l'amour en habits de semaine.
“Friendship is love in its weekday work clothes.”
On that pleasant thought, let us skedaddle. Et c’est tout pour aujourd’hui, mes étudiants!
copyright © 2012 William Gordon Casselman
For readers interested in French, there is a great deal of material on my website about Quebec French. Just click below to begin.
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