A few phrases and their histories...

We find ourselves surrounded by intelligent, self-aware, articulate French men and women.  It's amazing what we learn by paying attention and listening.

For example, just yesterday a kind women explained the history and use of "vous" et "tu."

I learned that you nearly always vouvoyer someone until invited to tutoyer.  The exception being adults tutoyer children.  But that seems to not really be the case.

The subtle change in the regulation is this: One uses "vous" for anyone of authority and anyone older than you if you are a child.  "Tu" is used between everyone else.

Historically, around the time of the 1789 Revolution the common people took on the airs of the monarchy and "vous" was commonly used.  That seems to have changed culturally and "tu" is now the preferred way to address someone who is not in authority.

Similarly, historically the address of "madame" was reserved exclusively when addressing women of the aristocracy and "mademoiselle" was used between commoners regardless of marriage status.  It's only in recent times that "mademoiselle" came to be used for addressing unmarried women.

Expanding our horizons just a little, there are phrases that show up in everyday use that even the French might not know the origins of.

For example, in a local store window there are T-shirts that say "En Voiture Simone."  There is a charming little book of the same title.  What does it mean?

The phrase currently means something along the lines of "let's get going."

The entire phrase is "En voiture Simone, c'est toi qui conduis, c'est moi qui klaxonne!"

Historically, the phrase comes from the reaction to a young woman who in the early 20th century was one of the first women to have acquired her drivers license.  Only men were allowed this privilege at the time, so it's very easy to imagine this phrase is actually demeaning toward women.

Here is one more phrase that we find interesting.  It is "la der des ders."

The full expression is "la dernier des derniers" and comes from the Great War (WWI) and literally means "the last of the last."

In use it is sometimes used to indicate the last of a series of something.  For instance it can be used to describe the very last episode in a TV series or a book series.

So that's it.  C'est la der des ders pour aujourd'hui.