On 22 Sep 2003 at 14:51, Jean-Marc Perreault wrote: > If I may, this slogan has been misinterpreted over and over. It is > true that many Quebec residents probably view this "Je me souviens" > slogan as one linked to separatism. But it is not the true meaning of > it. > > It really refers to the following: > <<Oui, nous nous souvenons. Nous nous souvenons du passé et de ses > leçons, du passé et de ses malheurs, du passé et de ses gloires.>> > > If I were to attempt a litteral translation, it would go as follow: > "Yes, we remember. We remember the past and its lessons, the past and > its sorrows, the past and its glories" >
I have to admit that with my limited French and the absence of my bilingual wife to help me out, I'm at a disadvantage here. However, my reading of the website essay cited by Jean-Marc is that the above phrase is an _interpretation_ of the three words "Je me souviens" and is not the source from which it is taken. As the website relates, a frequent claim is that those three words derive from a poem by Eugene Tache, which says [in translation] "I remember that born under the Lily, I have prospered under the Rose." If true, this is highly ironic, as the Lily symbolizes France and the Rose, England. The meaning of the motto would then be that Francophones have prospered under the British conquest. This is surely a strange slogan for a separatist government to adopt. In fact, it's just another story. The official Quebec government site at http://www.drapeau.gouv.qc.ca/devise/devise.html takes on the issue. My reading of what it says there (again, pleading poor French) is that while it was definitely Eugene Tache who had those three enigmatic words carved into the stone of the Legislative Assembly, no one knows for certain what he meant by them. But everyone has a theory, including the government bureaucrat who was responsible for that website. My theory is that the separatist government knew that no one knew, but they also knew what they wanted people to think they meant (to remember the centuries of grievances against the English). So they changed the slogan. Stephen _______________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips ________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]