Thursday, November 28, 2013

Le Grande Thanksgiving

In November, 1952, Art Buchwald wrote a column in which he–tongue in cheek–attempted to explain Thanksgiving to the French.

It would later be re-run each year, around Thanksgiving.  I would discover it for the first time, 35 years later, when I was living and working in France, when it appeared in the International Herald Tribune.

It is full of mangled English-to-French translations, for example, Miles Standish becomes Kilometres Deboutish, but it's hard to deny one of his conclusions about this American holiday:

And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.

You can read the entire column on the Washington Post website, here: Le Grande Thanksgiving.



Bon appétit and Happy Thanksgiving! 

6 comments:

Tammy said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. May it be filled with blessings and memories made

joe tulips said...

Happy thanksgiving! I am thankful for all you do!!!

Terri said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Sophie.
Hugs

Laurina said...

Every year I am asked about Thanksgiving by friends here in New Zealand. Luckily, I do not need to translate. The two 'traditional' dishes that always spawn questions are the sweet potatoes with marshmallows served as a savory side dish and the pumpkin pie that is a dessert. Luckily, I am not fond of either, so I never serve them. Have a good one!

Julierose said...

Love that story--we are a family descended from French Canadians--and
I only spoke French until I was 8 yrs old (luckily my grammar school was run by a French order of nuns!) --so I can appreciate the "translations" of our American terms!! thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving story--a bientot--Julierose

Anonymous said...

I guess I have an old sense of humor as I found that whole article hilarious. =) That turkey looks slightly better than mine did. =)

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