No, Chirac Didn't Say 'Shut Up'

The New York Times ^ | 02/22/2003 (for editions of 02/23/2003) | Eleanor and Michel Levieux

[GeneD]

PARIS — Did President Jacques Chirac of France actually tell half of Europe to shut up last week? Was he scolding a bunch of unruly children?

Not exactly. Translating the nuances of the "language of diplomacy," as French was once known, can be très difficile.

Although France and Germany have stood at the forefront of European resistance to the Bush administration's position on Iraq, 13 East European countries have expressed support for the United States. They include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, already accepted by the European Union as future members, and 10 others, most of them candidates for membership.

Mr. Chirac said that these countries "ont manqué une bonne occasion de se taire," rendered in part of the American and British press as "missed a good opportunity to shut up."

But Mr. Chirac's words were a significant notch above that level of discourse. To be sure, he could have been quite formal and said "ont manqué une bonne occasion de s'absentir de tout commentaire" ("refrain from making any comment"), or "garder le silence" or "se garder de s'exprimer" ("keep silent" or "say nothing"). And of course, he also could have taken a much lower road and said "ont manqué une bonne occasion de fermer leur gueule" or "de la fermer"), which would indeed mean "to shut up." The verb Mr. Chirac chose, "se taire," was neither elegant nor rude, simply neutral.

That's not to say that he wasn't upset. France and Germany have long been the pillars of the European Union, and Eastern Europe, for all its politeness in seeking admission to the club, almost certainly appeared to Mr. Chirac to be taking undue license.

"Their behavior is rather irresponsible and not very polite," Mr. Chirac went on to say. In French, that's "Ce n'est pas un comportement bien responsable. Ce n'est pas très bien élevé."

"Bien élevé" means "well brought up," and when used in the negative, as Mr. Chirac used it, it typically describes a misbehaving child. But "ce n'est pas très bien élevé" is definitely not as strong as "c'est mal élevé" would have been.

That would have simply meant "it's rude."

[rebel_yell2]

"What you thought I had implied is not what I had inferred." Thank the NYT's liberal-bias police for letting us know that the Frog-in-Chief really did not insult Eastern Europe. We are simply to crude to interpret what he said, so this author has set us straight!

[AmishDude]

Rendre-singes qui mangent du fromage

Surrender-Monkeys who eat some cheese -- that's not bad.