Watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon where T&J were in France ( you know the one with the really cute little mouse who wants to be a Musketeer (Mousekteer?)) and the young mouse says (in MY best French):
C’est le Gare.
As Jerry is smacking his bottom.
Now I know from growing up in the 80’s (thanks to Robbie Neville) that “C’est le Vie” means (AFAIK) “Such is life”.
But what about that little mouse. What was he lamenting? That is what does “gare” mean?
Thanks!
I believe that “guerre” is a term for war.
Webster’s says:
Main Entry: c’est la guerre
Pronunciation: se-l[a’]-ger
Usage: foreign term
Etymology: French
**: that’s war : it cannot be helped **
Okay, that does make a lot more sense than “That’s the train station.”
The views of ultrafilter and wishbone are to be respected but if they haven’t seen the cartoon they can’t be sure.
Jerry could have been smacking the young mouse’s bottom in the vicinity of a railway station. The spankee may have looked up momentarily and noticed this, as if for the first time. Hence:
‘C’est la gare’.
And, let’s face it, one sees more railway stations than wars.
Shit. A minute too late.
Herr Doktor Schadenfreude, you could have been there first, save your UserName is even longer and harder to spell than mine! Bwwahhahaha!
Besides, had he said C’est le gare, it would have sounded as though he had said C’est le gar, and the OP would have been about needle-nosed fish.
Or, he could have been calling Jerry the “young guy” - “C’est le gars.”
Sign on a bistro. ‘C’est lager’.
And, of course, there is also the old joke about the French tourist seeing Keble College, Oxford for the first time -‘C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la gare’.
The first Kodak cameras in France were treated with
“C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas Daguerre.”
Anybody else?
Actual review of flop musical Martin Guerre “Martin est Guerre.”
Are you sure ? The pun would work better if it was “Martin est guère”.
an actual conclave of Francophiles/Francophones…
Cartooniverse thinks to himself. Self, he says…
Sometimes, life in the early 1900’s is MUCH nicer than life in the early 2000’s…
Or if what’s-his-name had directed the cartoon and they were standing in front of a train station, it might have said ceci n’est pas une gare.
Rene Magritte, I believe. But that only works if it’s a sign on the train station.
eat your hearts out. With such literati here assembled, our salon has nothing to envy yours.
It was a British musical in English, hence Martin est Guerre. The best review was Guerre is hell.
A horrible flop that was rewritten about 10 times and fortunately never came to Broadway. Proving once again the the authors, Boublil & Schoenberg, can’t write and good music beginning with the letter “M” (i.e. Miserables, Miss Saigon, Martine Guerre).