A l’eau, C’est l’heure
Some of you will know of Sam Willis. He helped sail the tall ships for the Hornblower series and has written numerous popular books on the Age of Sail. It has also recently come to my attention that Mr Willis is a Very Silly Man. This from his blog last week...
This is great. There is a popular misconception amongst the English that the motto of the French Navy was once “A l’eau, C’est l’heure.” But this is actually a wonderful pun. Translated it is moderately convincing, meaning “To the water, it is the hour”, but when spoken aloud it actually sounds like the English phrase, with all of its comical overtones, “Hello Sailor.”
Silly, silly, silly.
Cross posted to following_sea
This is great. There is a popular misconception amongst the English that the motto of the French Navy was once “A l’eau, C’est l’heure.” But this is actually a wonderful pun. Translated it is moderately convincing, meaning “To the water, it is the hour”, but when spoken aloud it actually sounds like the English phrase, with all of its comical overtones, “Hello Sailor.”
Silly, silly, silly.
Cross posted to following_sea