Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart on the french mind [30:06]:
Alistair: And she said, I'll translate as I go, she said "it's not the least of the paradoxes, that on the evening..."
Rory: I love the fact that when you translate french you have to go, "it is not the least of the paradoxes". If you were editing this into english prose, would you start with "it is not the least of the paradoxes"? [laughing]
Alistair: "Ce n’est pas le moindre des paradoxes"..."that on the eve of the most important european elections in history, the most european of french presidents, took the least european of decisions to shake up Europe."
Rory: Wait wait wait...before we go on, what a beautiful expression of the french mind. Not the least of paradoxes, the most european of presidents, on the eve of the european elections, took the least european of decisions...
Alistair: It’s brilliant, exactly exactly, exactly
I absolutely love this interaction. You really have to listen to it to get the full picture. The thing is, both Rory and Alistair speak very good french, as do I, and the unspoken bit, is that when you read the french press, it really is absolutely packed with this kind of unbelievably flowery language.
It’s such a wonderful insight into french culture. But it’s great because it’s two politics nerds and admirers of France stumbling upon something that is so very very french.
They are both taking the piss somewhat, but also being affectionate, at the same time. I can confirm it really is a very french turn of phrase.
And it probably says something about the UK and even Europe in general as well. Btw, the english press has it’s own quirks when it comes to turns of phrase.
Imagine all the shit we’ve had to go through that have resulted in these ridiculus yet beautiful ways of speaking. It boggles my mind. #