Back to the store . . . Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 30, 2017 in Vocabulary
… For a love story! Between the world wars (la grande et la deuxieme*), France saw the creation of three stores dedicated to providing convenience and savings to urban shoppers. All three offered products “for a single price” and their names played on that concept.
While all three evolved over the years, Monoprix (Mono-price), Uniprix (Uni-price), and Prisunic (a play on ‘prix unique’ – unique price) were all dedicated to low prices on a wide range of products, of the alimentary and elementary kind (think Walmart, or Target, if you’re familiar with those brands). Over the years, the doyen** of the bunch Monoprix acquired the other two, and is now the last one standing.
To celebrate 85 years in business, Monoprix has introduced a charming campaigne publicitaire (ad campaign) that harkens back to a simpler time, leveraging Monoprix packaging that incorporated des jeux de mots (word games, or puns).
There is no dialogue, but the following should help you follow along:
En voilà un joli petit cœur | Well there’s a pretty little heart (‘un petit cœur’ is a type of coockie) |
Tu me fais ‘crackers’ | You make me ‘crackers’ (The French expression ‘tu me fais craquer’ is a term of endearment akin to ‘I’m crazy for you’) |
T’es l’ananas de ma vie | You’re the pineapple of my life (Most likely from ‘t’es l’amour de ma vie’ / ‘you’re the love of my life’ |
Je te nem | I ‘spring roll’ you (A play on ‘je t’aime’ / ‘I love you,’ ‘des nems’ is French for ‘Chinese spring rolls’) |
Prête pour une l’œuf story? | Ready for an ‘egg story’? (‘Ready for a love story?) |
Cake tu m’as manqué ! | Cake I missed you ! (‘How I have missed you !’ from the French ‘Qu’est-ce-que tu m’as manqué!’)*** |
[Vendu] | [Sold] |
Lait drôle la vie | Milk funny life. (‘C’est drôle la vie’ / ‘Life is funny’) |
Au cœur de votre vie | In the heart of your life |
Au cœur de votre ville | In the heart of your city / town |
Depuis 85 ans | For (since) 85 years |
But where it really gets interesting is … as a ‘kicker’, Monoprix produced a series of “alternate endings” that play off of other packaging puns including:
Sauce qui peut! | (From the French ‘sauve qui peut!’ which literally means ‘save yourself if you can!’ but familiarly means ‘get out’, ‘save yourself’, or ‘run!’. |
Tu peux me faire le mayo? | Can you make the mayonnaise? (From the French ‘tu peux me faire le maillot?’/ ‘maillot’ is the word for bathing suit, which here refers to a ‘bikini wax’!!! |
Oh ! Citron mignon ! | Oh! Lemon cute! (From the French ‘oh! C’est trop mignon’ / ‘Oh! Too cute !’ |
Attention à la peau lisse! |
Watch out for the smooth skin! (From the French ‘Attention à la police!’ / ‘Watch out for the police!’ |
* See here for a discussion of ‘deuxième’ vs. ‘seconde’.
** ‘doyen’ is a word that means ‘most senior’ or ‘oldest’, but in terms of ‘the first on the scene’ more than simply in terms of age.
*** Remember that the expression ‘to miss someone’ is tricky in French.
Image Credit: By Julien Paquin – Self-photographed, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34592671
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