Expression

March 31, 2009By Paris UpdateArchive

expression-of-the-week

“Moi, je me dis qu’on aurait été marron!” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy the other day after the presidential plane was delayed for an hour by a technical problem before takeoff on a state visit to Kinshasha. Sarkozy, who went ballistic over the delay, used this expression, which means “we would have been toast,” to describe what he imagined would have happened if the problem had occurred in the air and not on the ground. The incident provides a handy justification for the president’s desire to change the presidential fleet and an example of his use of popular slang, for which he is much criticized in this country where presidents are expected to parler la belle langue.

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