Re: "nom d'un petit bonhomme"
- From: "CDB" <bellemarec@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 12:57:00 -0400
Bob Cunningham wrote:
In Agatha Christie's _Elephants Can Remember_ (page 114 in
my Berkley paperback edition, ISBN 0-425-06782-3), Hercule
Poirot say "Nom d'un petit bonhomme". He then tells his
servant, George, that it's "a mere ejaculation". The rest
of the context doesn't seem to shed any light on the meaning
of the phrase.
At http://ets.freetranslation.com/ it gives the translation
"name of a small fellow". That seems like a reasonable
literal translation, but I suspect there's some meaning of
the overall phrase that goes beyond the literal meanings of
the words. Is it a well-known phrase? Can anyone say how
it originated or what its implication is?
By the little fellow! Poirot used it as an avoidance-term for "By
Christ". _Le Trésor de la Langue Française_ has:
b) Nom d'un petit bonhomme! Juron inoffensif (cf. BALZAC, Eugénie
Grandet, 1834, p. 190; BERNANOS, Un Crime, 1935, p. 808, etc.).
Rem. D'apr. Larchey (Les Excentricités du lang. ..., 1865, p. 221) :
,,Nom d'un petit bonhomme est une allusion aux statuettes qui
représentent le Christ.``
An inoffensive oath, used in the works of Balzac and Bernanos. One
commentator says explicitly that it's an allusion to statuettes of
Christ (meaning crucifixes, I suppose).
Babelfish, http://tinyurl.com/3yfcv4 , says the ejaculation
means "name of a small catch". Is that a gross error, or is
there some way that "bonhomme" can be taken to mean "catch"?
Never heard of it. Name of a Babelfish! There is a game called
something like "le bonhomme vit encore (is still alive)", involving
the passing-on of a burning match or spill, the loser being the one
holding it when it goes out. That kind of "catch", maybe?
Literally the word means "goodman". These days, it usually has
connotations of familiarity or even disparagement. It can also mean a
sketch; "les bonhommes" (in Canada without the "s" inflection of
"bon", I think, although _Le T_ says that's "populaire"; and I don't
think they mean it's widely esteemed) are the funny papers. A
"bonhomme de neige" is a snowman. Bonhomme Carnaval is the giant
snowman mascot of the winter carnival at Quebec City.
.
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