You Had Me at A**hole

I have a new favorite politician. I have no interest in his policy stance or effectiveness, but somehow that doesn’t matter. My new hero is French President Sarkozy.

Recently he was making his way through a crowd for some public event and went to shake the hand of a man who said, “Don’t touch me. You’ll make me dirty.” Sarkozy replied, “Then get out of here, you total a**hole.” Some have interpreted it as “jerk” and not “a**hole,” but that only makes the story better, knowing there is more than one interpretation. You get your reasonable deniability delivered on the fly. Impressive.

Here’s a link: http://blog.eitb24.com/odds/2008/02/24/-casse-toi-alors-pauvre-con-/

So I went to Wikipedia to see more about the Sarkozy cat, and found this gem:  “As mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Sarkozy met former fashion model and public relations executive Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz (great-granddaughter of composer Isaac Albéniz and of a Russian father), when he officiated at her wedding[15] to television host Jacques Martin. In 1988, she left her husband for Sarkozy, and divorced Martin one year later.”

Dude.

Sarkozy officiated at the former fashion model’s wedding and, I’m guessing, slipped the bride his phone number. Apparently that worked.

But the marriage didn’t, so after Sarkozy wore out one former model, he traded up to another, Carla Bruni, and married her recently.

I’m sure I would find plenty to dislike about Sarkozy if I bothered to read about his political views. But I’d hate to ruin a good first impression.

My point is that you shouldn’t let a French guy officiate your wedding.

Comments

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[Memmorium]

Good idea!
P.S. A U realy girl?

[Arthur]

Actually "pauvre con" translates to "small brained wiper of other peoples bottoms" when coupled with "casse toi" it becomes " I blow my nose in your general direction you small brained wiper of other peoples bottoms"

[John]

My grandfather officiated my wedding. He is getting old and senile. He actually slipped ME his number, I was pretty sure he meant it for my bride so I went ahead and passed it along. I felt like I owed it to the guy.

http://awritersblock.com

[emre]

Good

[Pierre, Switzerland]

"Google "French military victories" --- it will make you laugh."

Well, the people it will make laugh are mostly the ones who last opened a history book when they were 8 years old, and those with an IQ lower or equal to their anal temperature.

Read this:
http://old.exile.ru/2003-October-02/war_nerd.html

[TwoFiftyFive]

Sarkosy managed to turn up drunk to a G8 press conference after some "late night negotiations" with Vladimir Putin:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1923579.ece
And the YouTube video (in French of course):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxb0JHqzlA

[Nyx]

I agree with Michel."pauvre con" is not as offensive or vulgar as everyone in the US media seems to think. If Sarkozy had really called the man an a$$hole, he would have used the term "trou de cul". "Con" does not mean "twat" or "vagina" as some of you seem to think. It means "moron" or "idiot".

From another French-Canadian in Québec.

[BobUK]

With respect to all those French speakers who have commented, my half-French school chum once told me that the literal translation of "pauvre con" was "poor c*nt".

Idiomatic French may receive this as a different meaning but I kind of like the way my understanding of it is going.

[Tuzo]

So he's French, rude, and likes the ladies; sounds like the stereotypical Frenchman to me. ;)

[Fin]

Pantera,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_invasions

Bolivia, Panama, Grenada. Lots of success. Arguable politics but lots of success. When the US throws its weight around especially when the opponent is a small island nation.

Try wiki search on "UK invasions" instead and you get 'Pitch invasion' as top with 100% relevance. Nice!

Fin

[Stig]

Typically French - Sarkozy refusing to get physical with the guy. Not like that towering colossus of a British statesman John Prescott, who as Deputy Prime Minister to Tony Blair actually punched a guy in a crowd (on live TV of course) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRQDnGTcc4A

Sadam should have seen them coming...

[Mike]

*AND* they were right about Iraq not having any Weapons of Mass Destruction. They actually got some hostages released by making it very clear that these guys were FRENCH and not just some random Westerners.

Get over it. They have a nicer lifestyle, mistresses and extra-marital affairs are expected and not considered sleazy, they need something to do during their longer holidays. They eat butter, cream, drink and smoke and have lower levels of illness than everyone else. The country is beautiful. Healthcare is free and amongst the best in the world. Their films are genuinely erotic and thought provoking. I'm a Brit, we already hated them when you Yanks were saying "Thanks" for the Statue of Liberty (yes - the French gave you that - or did you know already?). Rita Mae if it wasn't for the French helping *you* out during your War of Independence you'd all be speaking English....DOH!

[Clement]

Hello all of you french lovers,

First, linguistics : "con" has many possible translations, each depending widely on the tone in which the word is spoken. Many famous french singers used the "con" word in a humorous way, and that wasn't shocking at all. Concerning Sarkozy's intervention, it was more the "F*ck off" idea, as Jack said below.

Secondly, on our dear President's noble attitude : the morning before his saying the f word to a stranger, Sarkozy was advocating for politeness to be taught back into classrooms... What kind of example is that ?

The main thing which is disturbing about Sarkozy is that he says one thing, and does another. Like many politicians, one could argue, but he does it in so plain a way that it's quite unnerving.

I don't think that politicians should always be impeccable, but we didn't elect just anyone, did we ? This man is supposed to represent France all around the world. I mean, since when did France become a banana republic, that our president should screw around insulting people, mating with top models for the hype of it and making a fool of himself in the press by sending text-messages to his ex-wife going like "I love you, come back to me ...".

Sad era, when I'm near being ashamed of being French.

Thirdly : About French and sex, hey guys, our girls don't try to f*ck everything that they can see, you just met the wrong ones :) If we had that much sex, don't you think that we would be much more numerous than the chinese ? :P

Clement,

a french Scott Adams fan.

P.S. : There were many French men at the last wedding I went to... no problem since then. I think you're over-reacting Scott :D

[Nono]

You might also want to check Sarkozy's drunken G8 video.

[good]

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[Whoever]

Chirac in a similar situation a few years back had a better reply. To someone who called him "Asshole" during a meeting, he answered with "No, the name is Jacques Chirac"...

[simon]

If you think thats something , UK deputy pm (the guy who would have taken over if Tony Blair did the decent thing and dropped down dead ) once punched a protester in front of the press

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_4098000/4098929.stm

[Armando Esteban]

Sarkozy is my hero too

[Muthu Ramadoss]

LOL. Back to your very best scott. We need more like this ;)

[Bas Brouwer]

Sarkozy is my favorite politician too. I don't care for his, pretty right-wing, politics, but here's something that triggered me:

As mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Sarkozy walked into a hostage situation in a school. After he negotiated the release of the children, he walked out and held the door open for a dozen special forces who killed the guy.

As finance secretary he had his mind set on lowering inflation. He called in all the CEOs of France's largest supermarkets and got them into a room. He asked them to significantly lower their prices. One of the CEOs asked "Why would we?".

Sarkozy answered, "Because in 5 minutes I'm walking to the press room and I'm announcing on prime time who didn't."

Love that guy.

[Thomas]

I am French and let me tell you, "casse-toi alors pauvre con" has only one very clear possible interpretation in French. Translation however can vary.

Brian M, I don't totally agree with the explanation you quote. It is true that "con" was a slang word for vagina in the distant past, but it is almost never used with that meaning nowadays. I think that numerous French people don't even know that it can have that meaning. It has become now just a rude word to mean "jerk" or "dumbass" and is quite commonly emloyed, however very rude.

[James Hansen]

Sarkozy gets around. You might be interested in the nice snap appearing here: http://www.upperitaly.net/index.php?id=137; of him "copping a feel" with respect to an attractive woman he is decorating for some important sporting accomplishment.

By the way, though the Brits writing in are for some reason translating "con" as "twat", technically speaking the word means "testicle". The expression is entirely equivalent to the Italian "coglione".

[PH1]

At a bucks night once I thought I'd break the ice with a French guy who was in attendance so said to him "Tell me then Jacques, why do you slippery Frogs think you're entitled to sleep with everyone else's wives?" Instead of getting all defensive he started waffling on about how "you Australian's don't know how to treat your women properly" blah blah blah. Simple: Don't trust them!

[Phil]

John Prescott, then Deputy Prime Minister.

Now that's a proper British politician:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VRQDnGTcc4A

I see him from time to time walking to work, he scares the hell out of me.