A Mini Dose of French Humor: Politics Explained to Little French Kids!
Posted on 08. Feb, 2012 by Hichem in Culture, News, People, Vocabulary
Before any major election in France, just like any other country, les blagues politiques (political jokes) reign supreme!The following French joke is actually quite universal, and can be particularly appreciated everywhere in the world where 2012 happens to be a Presidential Elections Year: In les États-Unis (USA), la Russie, l’Inde (India), la Tunisie, le Yemen, la Palestine, l’Egypte, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, le Turkménistan, la Corée du Sud, le Timor oriental, le Venezuela, la République dominicaine, le Mexique, la Serbie, la Finlande, le Sénégal, le Mali, Madagascar, Ghana, la Sierra Leone, Iceland, la Turquie, la Slovénie, not to mention the sovereign Republic of Palau!
◊ LA BLAGUE (the Joke):
- Un enfant demande à son papa: “explique-moi, c’est quoi la politique?” 
(A kid asks his father: “Daddy explain to me, what is politics?”)
- Le papa répond: ” c’est très simple. Je vais te donner un exemple : dans notre famille, c’est moi qui rapporte de l’argent, je suis donc le capitaliste.
(The father answers: “It’s quite simple, I will give you an example: In our family, I am the one who earns the money, so I am the capitalist.)
- Ta maman gère cet argent, elle est donc le gouvernement.
(Your Mom manages this money, so she is the government.)
- Grand-père vérifie si tout ce passe bien : il est donc le parlement.
(Grandpa verifies if everything goes well: So he is the Parliament.)
- La bonne est la classe ouvrière.
(The maid is the working class.)
- Nous n’avons tous qu’un seul but : ton bien-être… Tu es donc le peuple.
(We all share one goal: Your well-being… So you are the people.)
- Ton petit frère est encore dans le berceau, nous dirons alors qu’il est l’avenir.”
(Your little brother is still in the cradle, so we’ll say that he is the future)
L’enfant a bien écouté! La nuit tombe chacun s’en va au lit.
(The kid listened very carefully! At night, everyone went to bed.)
(The kid listened very carefully! At night, everyone went to bed.)
L’enfant, dans le sommeil, entend son petit frère qui pleure. Il se lève et va voir.
(During his sleep, the kid heard his little brother crying. He wakes up and goes to check on him.)
En fait, le petit frère avait fait dans ses couches!
(As it turned out, the little brother had dirtied his diapers!)
Que faire? il va dans la chambre de ses parents et s’aperçoit que la maman est toute seule au lit en train de dormir.
(What to do? He goes to the room of his parents and notices that the mother is alone in bed, deeply sleeping.)
Ne voulant pas la réveiller, il va à la chambre de la bonne et là! il trouve son père dans le lit de la jeune fille.
(Not wanting to wake her up, he goes to the room of the maid and there! He found his dad in the bed of the young girl.)
Il voit même le grand-père qui regarde par la fenêtre. Ayant peur, l’enfant va se recoucher et s’endort.
(He even sees his grandpa watching through the window. Feeling scared, the kid goes back to bed and falls asleep.)
Le lendemain le papa demande: “Alors mon fils, as-tu bien compris la leçon d’hier?”
(The next day the father asked: “So, my son, did you understand well yesterday’s lesson?”)
Le garçon répond “Oui papa, ta définition est claire:”
(The boy answers: “Yes daddy, your definition is clear:”)
(“Capitalism takes advantage of the working class while the government is asleep and the parliament watches without saying a word. Nobody gives a damn about what the people think, and the future is in deep s%$#…”)
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5 Responses to “A Mini Dose of French Humor: Politics Explained to Little French Kids!”
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c’est pas plutot “Alors mon fils, tu as réfléchi et compris?” o_O
And the English should be “And so, my son, did you think about it, and understand (it)?”
Salut Kate and Jaymo! Yes, there are many ways to express that, and to make sure that you too “vous avez bien compris“, it is now expressed as:
Le lendemain le papa demande: “Alors mon fils, as-tu bien compris la leçon d’hier?”
(The next day the father asked: “So, my son, did you understand well yesterday’s lesson?”)
Dear Mr. Transparent, in fact, I did understand everything but for the “s” that shouldn’t be there at the end of any past participle of the verbes “en -ir”, if not preceded by a noun in the plural form + que. I guess there are not so many ways to express un participe passé =) so, you’re welcome
Rebonjour Kate! You are definitely right, there was a typo even before the sentence was completely modified. Thank you for pointing that out