[Lexicog] The Irony of Thou

[Fritz Goerling]

Talking about that mock camaraderie, I wonder how an educated Algerian would
react when addressed by an French doctor whom he has never consulted before
by the question "mon zami, qu'est-ce que je peux faire pour toi? Où est-ce
que ça te fait mal?" (not "mon ami" but "mon zami")
(translation "my friend, what can I do for you/tu? Where does it hurt
you/tu?)
Now the other way round: How might a Frenchman (say an educated one) react
if addressed in such a way by an Algerian doctor?
In West African French (as spoken in Mali, Burkina-Faso, Côte d'Ivoire,
Sénégal)
one might address almost any stranger by "chef" (chief) and "tu", when
asking for a service, like talking to a gas station attendant. "chef" is
deprived of any formal traits in such situations, but you better address a
policeman by "chef" and "vous."

Fritz Goerling

The fact that in Algerian French as used by non educated speakers one can
combine the formal form of address "Monsieur" with the informal pronoun "tu"
surely means that "tu" is deprived there any informal traits.
In Parisian French, however, I can certify that the use of "tu" by a
complete
stranger is in no way neutral.
A whole range of contexts may come to mind, from the vagrant street
person pretending to erase with the use of this pronoun any trace of social
division in order to gain access to that deeper level where all men are born
equal, etc., to the mock familiarity of the market stall vendor who is so
confident that his putative customer shares his own passion for the intrisic
value of the goods he is peddling that this creates a level of complicit
familiarity which transcends social barriers.
If one is led, accidentally no doubt, to turn on the television these days
and
manages to sit through only a few minutes of one of those programmes where a
glitzy TV presenter welcomes a well-known politician, say someone known for
his
burly character, for instance, one will note with linguistic curiosity how
the
presenter brings the politician to eat in his hand, so to speak, by the mere
use of that "tu" pronoun. The said politician will of course play ball,
only too pleased to show that beyond all previous appearances to the
contrary,
he really is a very human person.
But how resilient, really, is that mock camaraderie? Only recently on a
forum I
found myself drawn to use "tu" with fellow members and with one of the
administrators, with whom I had a lengthy technical exchange of emails. I
was
then led to call that lady on the phone, whereupon I noted with interest how
insistent her use of "vous" was, throughout our conversation. The switch
from
the noncommittal website exchanges to the person to person oral
conversation,
clearly explained here the demise of our former camaraderie.
Just one last anecdote. It is a known fact that traditional usage in upper
class
families required husband and wife to use "vous" when adressing each other.
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, for instance, made a point of
adhering
to this formal usage, no doubt in order to place their own relationship on a
par with their literay ambitons. However, I keep a distinct memory of a
couple
of Bohemian Parisian aristocrats who used unreservedly the democratic "tu"
in
everyday situations and who, or so they confided in me..., only shifted to
"vous" in situations of more meaningful intimacy!
Marc FRYD

Selon Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org>:

> Which French of Algiers? Street French probably. (...)>
>
> Fritz Goerling
>
>



 
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