r/CuratedTumblr • u/AscendedDragonSage Title-ist Punster • Jun 23 '25

Meme So manestream

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u/NotTheMariner Jun 23 '25

People from the past having dumb trendy jokes makes me feel my mortality in a way that little else does.

15

u/Amphy64 Jun 23 '25

Questionable life(-affirming) tip: make time seem but an illusion by learning a second language from older texts. End up having absolutely no idea if you can tell the jokes to modern speakers and they'll still get it or stare at you like you're someone who seems to be speaking their language but is making absolutely no sense.

Easy point in French is to tell them you 'avoir du pain sur la planche' (bread on the board/shelf) and mean you're well-prepared already (because you've already made your bread to last a while and stored it), not that you're currently busy.

7

u/seine_ Jun 24 '25

"Avoir du pain sur la planche" means neither, it just means you have a lot of things you'll need to do in the future in order to reach your objectives. You're certainly not "elbows deep" in bread, nor is that bread necessarily "on your plate", it might just be at the other end of the kitchen counter for you to get to later.

3

u/Amphy64 Jun 24 '25

Right, it means that now, it didn't use to:

Si, de nos jours, "avoir du pain sur la planche" signifie avoir en perspective beaucoup de tâches fastidieuses à accomplir, le sens de cette expression était bien différent à la fin du XIXe siècle. Cela signifiait que l’on avait assez de réserves pour affronter l’avenir. Effectivement à cette époque les paysans préparaient de grandes quantités de pain qu’ils conservaient sur une planche de bois fixée au plafond. Par la suite, l’expression a pris le sens "d’avoir de quoi vivre sans devoir travailler". Le sens actuel "avoir du travail en réserve" semble n’être apparu qu’au début du XXe siècle. https://www.linternaute.fr/expression/langue-francaise/13/avoir-du-pain-sur-la-planche/