Sunday, September 06, 2009

Doing porridge

The Coucy Castle Manuscript, by Ormonde De Kay, published in England in1983, followed up the great Mots d'Heures: Gousses Rames by Luis Van Rooten. Here is a sample:


Pise, pas riche, hâte,
Pise, pas riche, colle,
Pise, pas riche, y n’appâte.
Naine désole.
Sceau malachite hâte,
Sceau malachite colle,
Sceau malachite y n’appâte,
Naine désole.


It is hard to imagine a market in England for this kind of thing now – it was hard enough then - though we have always liked our word play, not nearly enough people have even school French these days.

Of course both authors were American – it helps to get the joke if you pronounce the French with a good dollop of the Bronx.