Language notes: playing chicken

At the November inauguration of the new La République en Marche leader, Christophe Castaner, he was overheard onstage casually muttering to his party colleague and Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe: “Ça allait mon poulet?”, which is roughly translated as ‘Was that alright, chicken?”

The use of poultry references in terms of affection is commonplace in France (perhaps think ‘pet’ in the UK)... though not often in the upper echelons of political life. Ma poule (hen) and Mon poussin (little chicken) are alternatives when greeting or referring to a loved one or close friend.

A père-poule (father hen) ou une mère-poule (mother hen) can refer to one who has affection for his/her children but with a tendancy to overprotect them, while there is an altogether racier connotation with the word poule in other contexts:
A “Belle Poule” was often used to describe a bordel where there were poules or cocottes – (see our December edition Back Page). A poule de luxe (“Chicken of luxury”), meanwhile, is a woman kept in a certain style by a lover.

La Belle Poule was the name of a ship which carried Napoleon’s remains home.

As in English, in French a person is said to be a “chicken” if they are deemed cowardly. Listen out for the terms poule mouillée (wet chicken) or avoir la chair de poule (to have chicken skin).

There are also many sayings about cockerels: Au chant du coq (at the rooster’s crow) refers to daybreak; être rouge comme un coq means to go bright red from shame or embarrassment; c’est un vrai coq (he’s a real cockerel) means someone who is always ready to fight or quarrel; and sauter du coq à l’âne (to jump from the cockerel to the donkey) describes someone who flits from one subject to another.