The best French cat video yet:
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur
D’une langueur
Monotone.
Naturally, le chat Henri has his own Facebook page.
h/t: Michael
Le chat d’ennui
April 11, 2012 • 10:05 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Bon.
The French. No one captures ennui and existential angst better than they.
Mara:
Too glib, and totally wrong.
The Danes (Hamlet, Soren Kierkegaard), the Swedes (August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman), some Norwegians (Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Munch) do it infinitely better.
No compare.
The French are only “poseurs”, striking an attitude for the gallery.
“Infinitely”? You post that on a science blog?
And who is this “Mara” of whom you speak?
I love these kind of generalizations. So full of objectivity by the way…
Small typo: it’s sanglots
Fixed, thanks. That stanza from Verlaine was, of course, broadcast by the British to the French resistance as a code that the D-Day invasion was about to begin. (At least, so I remember.)
You are absolutely correct. The first three lines were transmitted on the 1st June and were a signal that the invasion was to be launched in the next two weeks; the second verse meant that the invasion was imminent and were transmitted on the 5th June.
Apparently it was:
… not quick enough 😉
Not only you 🙂 The German signals intelligence were aware of the meaning of the poem and had actually sent out a warning message to all army commanders say that the invasion was on its way. Mercifully this was ignored because a similar alert had been intercepted a month earlier which proved to be incorrect…..
That is one of my favorite parts of the movie The Longest Day, when Kurt Juergens, as Rundstedt’s chief of staff Blumentritt, despairs at the refusal of the Fuehrer’s headquarters to release the panzer reserves — because the Fuehrer is asleep and is not to be disturbed…Wounds my heart with monotonous languor….
Yes, this cat clearly suffers from Feline Ennui Syndrome. Our cat has had FES for years. Although there is no cure, the symptoms may be managed with endless laps, careful attention to diet, and strictly limited use of the vacuum cleaner.
The reader has a very strong accent (as if reading a transcription)
This could be an automatic voice machine based in Chicago trying to read French. Many words are very hard to make out.
No, I didn’t mean it sounds robotic, but with a very strong accent. Google-translate does much better at reading french!
“un film de Will Braden”.
Should tell you enough.
Verlaine? It jumped off the page at me – yes, I thought it was sanglots. Had to memorize it over 65 years or so ago for a class and have always remembered that first verse.
Terrible French pronunciation!
Ah. Existentialist kitteh.
“Life begins on the other side of despair.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre
I mean Jean-Paul Kitteh
Mon Dieu! Je l’aime beaucoup! L’enfer, c’est les autres [chats].
Mon pauvre Henri…sigh. Perhaps an ennui curative?
Merci. Quelle merveille!
😀 Or maybe Henri needs to hook up with Nora?
This piece made my day. Thank you.
Mon plaisir. Ahem… I much prefer to *Play Hard* though. 😀
Excellent video
The cat is great, no doubt. But I have to say, le reste de la video ne m’emballe pas trop. Or am I the only frog around here? No really, I am not into the stereotype. Oh well. Helas…
What, the “existentialist” stereotype? Yeah, I’m tired of being hassled because of it LOL.
As pointed in a comment above, that’s not even a “correct stereotype” (sic), we’re just poseurs :p
Non, tu n’es pas le (la?) seul Froggy du coin :p
Chouette! :-)))
Best line: The whipped cream in the bathroom is NOT whipped cream!
I really enjoyed this. The imperfect accent and poseur existentialist attitude are part of what makes it funny and good.
Thanks for sharing!
Allright everyone!
Henri deux?
Henri deuxieme??!!
Naturellement, il doit etre Henri Quatre!
JBlilie,
Dans la portée de toutes les choses, est-il important? 😉
Chris
Alas, the accent is so bad that it’s nearly incomprehensible without the English subtitles. And I say this as a francophone.
Magnificat.