Êtes-vous “Octopessimystique”? (and superstitieux in general?)
Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by Hichem in People, Sports, Vocabulary
It’s become increasingly hard not to succumb to “Octopessimism” when your country’s lunchbox isn’t lucky enough to be picked by Paul le Poulpe.
Être un ou une ”Octopessimiste“, or “Octopessimystique“, can be defined as un néologisme which refers to that form of perssimism that befalls upon an entire nation, fans and players alike, who, much to their national chagrin, would not enjoy the mystic selection of Paul le Poulpe.
So, encore une fois, Paul a dit juste! (He’s got it right again!) And la Hollande officially joins the roster of World Cup nations yearning to shoot -or rather- *boil* the messenger Paul le Poulpe (Paul the Octupus.)
Let’s also remind you that our own prediction made right here last Thursday (“Paul le Poulpe” predicts: La Hollande or l’Espagne?) turned out to be right as well: Jennie’s post was indeed intitulé (titled) “Une délicieuse tarte au poulpe” (“A Delicious Octopus Pie.“)
Did anyone from l’Argentine, l’Allemagne, l’Angleterre (England), or la Hollande already try Jennie’s special recette (recipe)?
So far, Paul le Poulpe est saint et sauf (alive and well) in the comfort of his aquarium located at Zum Aquarium 1, 46047 Oberhausen, Deutschland, and might after all not need the intervention of the premier ministre espagnol, who lately offered to dispatch une équipe spéciale (a special team) to insure the security of the mollusque turned chouchou des médias (media darling.)
Of course, there are many superstitions, and the French, despite their often declared rationalisme, are no exception. They see some things as porte bonheur (bringers of good luck), whereas others as porte malheur (bringers of bad luck.)
* Here are a few examples à ce propos:
- To find un trèfle à quatre feuilles (a four-leaf clover) is a porte bonheur.
Rumor has it that Thierry Henry stumbled into one just prior to the kickoff of the World Cup qualifiers (hence his ”luck of the Irish”, which later on came to him pretty “handy” -sorry for the cruel pun- against the Irish themselves…)
- Casser un mirroir (to break a mirror) is seen as un porte malheur, with sept ans (seven years) of misfortune.
- To hang un fer à cheval (a horseshoe) on top of your door is un porte bonheur.
- To run into un chat noir (a black cat) is a porte malheur.
- To see un arc en ciel (a rainbow) is un porte bonheur.
- To be treize personnes autour d’une table (thirteen around a table) is un porte malheur.To see une étoile filante (a shooting star) is un porte bonheur, and when it happens il faut faire tout de suite un vœu (you should make a wish right away!)
- Finally, when Paul le Poulpe chooses a country as a winner of a World Cup game, it’s neither un porte bonheur nor un porte malheur, but, as the Argentinians, the Germans, the English, and the Dutch now all know, it’s simply a… cold hard fact!
I have to make a case for shooting stars; in Chinese tradition, it is considered un porte malheur. The broom-tailed star (扫把星) ie a comet is used to indicate a jinx or harbinger of bad luck. It’s often confused with a shooting star ( 流星), to the extent of both being associated with bad luck.