Frogspeak

Recent political developments have rendered the state of Franco-American relations a-shambles. It is neither here nor there to debate who saved who in what war, who brought who Amelie, or who sent who an exchange student that made out with the editorial staff's senior prom date. The editorial's staff's primary concern is not to assign blame--she wasn't that hot anyway--but to mend rifts. And as everyone knows, true cultural healing cannot begin until the two fueding nations have gotten together and taught each other their dirty words. Or in today's case: exclamations.

Sacre bleu

or, more appropriately:

Sacre bleu! Cogsworth, mon ami, did you see how mademoiselle was dressed for dinehr! Why, she is falling in amour! Surely we will be rehstored to our proper state!
[Editor's query: are Cogsworth and Lumiere the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of our generation?]

Literally, it means "sacred blue." Nice enough of a dyad, but obtuse without some history. Apparently, much like purple in Rome, blue was the traditional color of the French monarchy. Though unlike the Purple/Rome dichotomy, the royal connotation of the color had little to do with the pigment itself (royal purple was ground from a rare and therefore expensive mollusk) but instead referred to a metaphor of divine rule. In it, blue represents the sky, or the tissue that connects heaven to earth. Therefore the king, in his azure regalia, was asserting his role as man's link to god.

Interesting etymological hopscotch, and it accounts for the fact that so many things in Paris are "blue" (the city's most popular cab service being a noticeable example). Still, not quite sure what this info, even in the hands of our diplomats, would truly accomplish. To really get anywhere, we're gonna have to delve into more contemporary French slang. Stay tuned for that. Next time: bo-bo, mef, and a popular protest song that changes the refrain in "Frere Jacques" to "Jacques Chirac."