# Can someone translate this French joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792 "2014-09-28T18:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/1 "2014-09-28T18:32:48Z")
In the 1890s, there was a French play with a British character who was played as a joke, that is, as a stereotypical Britisher. Here’s how he was described in Punch magazine: > [@](#): > > In short, he is tout-ce-qu’il-y-a de plus Anglais. His son Shames is even more aggressively British. Sir John orders lunch: “vous donner moa bifteck” is the obvious formula. Shames concurs with a “Yehs Pappah,” which provokes roars of laughter. I understand from online sources that tout-ce-qu’il-y-a de plus Anglais is an idiom meaning “as British as British can be.” But “vous donner moa bifteck” sounds like he’s ordering steak. His son says, “Yes, Papa,” and the audience laughs. Any idea why? ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/2 "2014-09-28T20:34:36Z")
Your translation is correct. I don’t see anything particularly funny; perhaps the delivery was the funny part. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/3 "2014-09-28T20:38:08Z")
> [@pesch](#): > > In the 1890s, there was a French play with a British character who was played as a joke, that is, as a stereotypical Britisher. Here’s how he was described in Punch magazine: > > I understand from online sources that tout-ce-qu’il-y-a de plus Anglais is an idiom meaning “as British as British can be.” But “vous donner moa bifteck” sounds like he’s ordering steak. His son says, “Yes, Papa,” and the audience laughs. > > Any idea why? I think the idea is that 'bifteck" sounds a bit like a lisped version of “beef steak” - hence his son’s lisping answer. But I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/4 "2014-09-28T20:50:23Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I think the idea is that 'bifteck" sounds a bit like a lisped version of “beef steak” - hence his son’s lisping answer. But I could be wrong. On second thought, that theory would make more sense for an English play than for a French one. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/5 "2014-09-28T21:06:57Z")
Sounds like the combination of a heavy accent (“moa” and “pappah”), bad grammar, and the fact that they are mixing French and English in their speech, so they could never be mistaken for native Frenchmen. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/6 "2014-09-28T21:24:45Z")
Yeah, I think the intonation is key, and we’re missing that completely. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/7 "2014-09-28T21:45:03Z")
In the first place, bifteck is just ordinary French. You’ll see it on menus everywhere. > **[le bifteck translation in English | French-English dictionary | Reverso](https://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/le+bifteck)** > > le bifteck translation in French - English Reverso dictionary, see also 'bite, BIT, bitte, biffer', examples, definition, conjugation It is, however, a stereotypically \*English \*dish. As for the joke, It’s just a line delivered in an exaggerated accent. Look at Clouseau saying “Do you have a reum?” and it’s the same joke. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/8 "2014-09-28T22:25:42Z")
It’s known as Franglais these days, and can give rise to endless humourous phrases: This from the BBC: [Englishisms in France: Readers' franglais favourites - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22636888) _" It has definitely become the “cool” (or “supercool”, or even “hypercool” - pronounced eepacool - as my former French flatmates used to say) thing to do to incorporate as much English into a sentence as possible, to show off your knowledge of the outside world. Made-up words like “footing”, to mean jogging, have crept up recently… I have seen stand-up comedians being described as “un one-man-show”, or even comediennes as “une one-woman-show”. The mayor of New York was described in one newspaper as “un self-made-man”. And when I sat down for dinner for the first time with my French flatmates, they tried to embrace the English language to welcome the present company with “Good eating!” - they were shocked to hear that “Bon appetit!” makes perfect sense, not just because it’s not English, but because we seem too lazy to think of anything new for ourselves. Matthew Lewis, Watford, UK"_ ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/9 "2014-09-28T22:46:39Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > It’s known as Franglais these days, and can give rise to endless humourous phrases: > > This from the BBC: [Englishisms in France: Readers' franglais favourites - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22636888) > > _" It has definitely become the “cool” (or “supercool”, or even “hypercool” - pronounced eepacool - as my former French flatmates used to say) thing to do to incorporate as much English into a sentence as possible, to show off your knowledge of the outside world. Made-up words like “footing”, to mean jogging, have crept up recently… I have seen stand-up comedians being described as “un one-man-show”, or even comediennes as “une one-woman-show”. The mayor of New York was described in one newspaper as “un self-made-man”. And when I sat down for dinner for the first time with my French flatmates, they tried to embrace the English language to welcome the present company with “Good eating!” - they were shocked to hear that “Bon appetit!” makes perfect sense, not just because it’s not English, but because we seem too lazy to think of anything new for ourselves. Matthew Lewis, Watford, UK"_ … or the Montreal comedy show, “[You’re Gonna Rire](http://www.olympiamontreal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Sugar-Sammy-You-re-gonna-rire-700-3931-700x393.jpg)” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-translate-this-french-joke/699792/10 "2014-09-29T01:38:55Z")
That explains it, then. Thanks so much for helping!