February 4, 2012

The Frenchest thing anybody ever said in English

I was watching an old Rick Steves travelogue about Paris with my father, and Rick goes cheese-shopping with a French lady who owns a local restaurant. She picks up a hunk of cheese so pungent that I could just about smell it streaming through my Roku device, and moans ardently:
"Yes, it smells like zee feet of angels."

30 comments:

anastasia said...

Whenever I find a hunk of camembert, I have an urge to chop it into tiny pieces.

slumber_j said...

If she were a man, that would be gay as a French horn. But she's not, so it's just French.

Anonymous said...

I had a girlfriend whose feet smelled like that.

Col. Reb Sez said...

Rick's politics are somewhere between Lenin and Trotsky, but I enjoy his travel guides. After all is said and done, I've enjoyed the trips I've done on the "cheap" the most.

Jim O said...

Travelogue writer is one of those jobs where you've got the world by the short hairs. You're on vacation most of the time, and everything you spend on every vacation is a tax deduction.

Hunsdon said...

There are other sites on the web that discuss HBD. There are other sites on the web that provide political commentary, even from the same (or a similar) viewpoint as that Steve espouses. There are other sites on the web that veer close to the JQ. There are other sites on the web that are deft with the snark, sharp enough that sometimes you don't even feel the cut until a few minutes later.

But this is pure iSteve. "Zee feet of angels" indeed!

I need some stinky cheese.

Anonymous said...

We women are usually not as judgmental about guys who come off as fem, but I've always had a hard time listening to/watching Steves beyond 15 minutes at a time. The nasal, whiny voice, the articulationm and something else I can't put my finger on...I take no pleasure in saying it, but he drives me crazy and I never make it too far into his travelogues.

Anonymous said...

Rick is a dweeb from head to toe.

John Cunningham said...

this is undoubtedly the most French thing ever said in English. The most touching, romantic marriage proposal ever said in English was Robert Mitchum to his future bride: "Stick with me, kid, and you'll be fartin' through silk."

Kylie said...

There is so much wrong with this I don't even know where to start.

Gene Berman said...

Steve,--

Are you referring to a Rokufort device?

not a hacker said...

The Frenchiest thing Joe Biden ever said: In TNR Paul Berman recounts how in 1997, Biden told Vaclev Havel that Mexico was 50 times as important as the Czech Republic.

Glaivester said...

I remember two French girls in my dorm at graduate school eating some dish with a truly horrible smelling cheese on it. I retaliated by opening a can of sardines (my favorite protein-y snack food). Or maybe they were fish steaks (i.e. sardines cut in cross sections).

Grumpy Old Man said...

Uni (sea urchin) is the limburger cheese of sushi. This is probably irrelevant, but I felt an urge to say it.

DanJ said...

This reminds me of something I read where a group of motor journalists were visiting the Moto Guzzi factory in Italy to try our the new bike.

One of the writers thought the bike was too noisy and said so. The factory rep got very upset and said "Eez notta noice, eezza music!"

stari_momak said...

Rick Steves is one of those guys you would swear was gay -- I mean, 'Europe through the back door' , c'mon'. But apparently he was married and produced kids in the normal way.

Anonymous said...

his guides are good but i hate all his snide little swpl comments

ihatebabyboomers said...

Rick Steves is a quintessential baby boomer - lefty, effeminate, whimpy, and kind of stupid, completely without gravitas.

Anonymous said...

Specifically, this traditional French saying applies to camembert.

And if you know anything about camembert, it's very apt, too.

Glaivester said...

Biden told Vaclev Havel that Mexico was 50 times as important as the Czech Republic

That's not Frenchy. That's MCPish.

"With the information I can access, I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human."

globe trotter said...

Rick Steves is from the northwest. Oregon or Washington, can't recall which. That may explain his manner. He's married and often travels with his wife & kids who are now in their teens and they seem like a close family. He's not the heaviest intellectual I've every heards but he knows his stuff as far as the good places not to miss. His book on Europe was invaluable for me when I traveled 25 yrs ago. Probably there are others that are as good or better now.

Baloo said...

Anthony Bourdain could take him with one hand tied behind his back.

Anonymous said...

What is it about the French and smells?

They don't shower, they let dogs shit all over, and they eat stinky cheeses.

gummi believes in pooper scooper said...

I recall hearing that French people don't clean up after making their dogs shit cuz it creates jobs for dog-shit cleaners. This could be a useful metaphor for a form of economics: dogshit or dog-doo economics(worse than voodoo economics).

When a nation is told not to do what makes sense(what is more sensible and responsible than cleaning doggy doo of one's own dog?)for the sake of creating state jobs... well, that kinda sounds like what happens here too.
So, more and more Americans crap all over and wait for government to clean it up; they are being conditioned to think/act like that.

beowulf said...

"If she were a man, that would be gay as a French horn. But she's not, so it's just French."

My thoughts exactly. It reminded me of The Gayest Generation posters.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/73300/The-Gayest-Generation-Navy-Recruiting-Posters-from-World-Wars-I-II

not a hacker said...

What if Rick Steeves spoke like Robert Mitchum. Wouldn't that make everyone at NPR uncomfortable?

Jacob Roberson said...

gummi believes in pooper scooper said...

When a nation is told not to do what makes sense(what is more sensible and responsible than cleaning doggy doo of one's own dog?)for the sake of creating state jobs...


This also works for: "state jobs" -> "private jobs"

Kylie said...

"Rick Steves is from the northwest. Oregon or Washington, can't recall which. That may explain his manner."

That may explain his manner but it doesn't excuse it.

anastasia said...

"That may explain his manner but it doesn't excuse it."

But is his christmas special from a few years back any good?

Ray Sawhill said...

I think Rick Steves' TV shows and travel guides are real marvels.

I remember a Frenchie back in the day rhapsodically describing the smell of a cheese as being like "the feet of God." God, not just angels. Maybe it was an even better cheese than the one Rick Steves' friend was sniffing?