Picture Test Page #2
Quotes of Merit – memorable mentions
“Fermes la porte. Tu ne vis pas dans une grange.” – Mom to kids
“Manges de la marde (merde)!” –
This was Mom’s attitude when dealing with A-holes in her entourage.
Its motto was “Outside, English for business, but, at home, nothing but French.” – Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste of Burlington, VT, – The Saint Jean-Baptiste societies in the United States patterned themselves after the original Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste established in Montreal in 1834.
In America, and in the Burlington area, membership in organizations like the Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the Societe Mutuel/e de St. Joseph also provided some valuable personal experiences for its male members. It offered opportunities for leadership and achievement for individuals whose experiences in America were often in positions of subservience to Yankee employers, landowners, and businessmen.
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Lowell public school teacher advised her class that:
“When stupid people marry stupid people, they get stupid children. So, study hard or you’ll end up as ditch-diggers.” – Tom Lawrence, my broth-in-law
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“It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.”
“It’s a rat race out there, and the rats are winning.”
“Just as phony as a three-dollar bill.”
“It’s not the dog in the fight that counts, it’s the fight in the dog.”
“As an outsider, what do you think of the human race?”
“Do you like peaches? Kiss my ass, it’s a peach.” – Dad, around 1949
Difference between a French and an American supermarket:
“In an American market, there are six types of cheeses and 67 types of soaps. In a French market, there are 67 types of cheeses and six types of soaps.”
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“Pas de croix, pas de couronne.” – Quebec Catholic adage of 1890s
“Suffering on earth meant heaven, later” – a deep truth buried in the souls of French Canadians living in Centralville – 1850 to 1960
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“He, who loses his language, loses his faith.”- Alfred Bonneau of the newspaper, “La Justice”, of Biddeford, Maine.
See: “Les Belles of New England” – See page 181 for this and more
Excerpted material:
The priests taught the people that hard work was their destiny, that they were born to suffer in this life, but that they should not blame society for their condition. It was a difficult credo but not very different from the Puritanical teachings accepted by their Yankee bosses and neighbors. The people for the most part obeyed the stern cures (priests).
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“Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant” (“Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you”) – Wikipedia and my St-Joseph High School Latin teacher (1958)
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“Some people think that their shit doesn’t stink.” – Mom in addressing her dislike for some political figure.
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“Ted Williams? – He’s a bum.” – Uncle Gerry bemoaning the fact that Ted was not a clutch-hitter.
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“Irish women are poor cooks and dirty housewives.” – Mom, when the topic of housewives came up for consideration.
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“Politics is a dirty business, my dear!” – Grandfather Charbonneau to his youngest daughter, Claire, my mother.
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“Remember, Sarah, you must take one little bit of that shit sandwich, every day.” – Brother Bob giving his niece a little bit of advice for a successful life.
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“They are brave, and they are bold, and the liquor they can hold as the caisson go rolling along.” – Aunt Antoinette remembering her days as the wife of a West point Army officer. ~ 1962
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“My opponent, the mayor, has run your city into the ground with graft, prostitution, political sweetheart deals for the past four years. Now, it is my turn.” – George Bourbeau and I evaluating the democratic institutions of our fine city. ~ 1956
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“The only thing that Hitler did wrong was not to kill more Jews.” – Grandfather, Paul Charbonneau, after the war ~ 1946. Why this visceral reaction to the Hebrew race always baffled me.
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“As funny as a rubber crutch.” – a saying from the early 1950s
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“As funny as a pay toilet in the diarrhea ward
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“All Democrats are crooks.” – Mom’s appraisal of that ilk of people (mostly, Irish), who would support Mayor Curley in Boston.
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“Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes right to the core.” – urban wisdom in the streets of Centralville.
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“No swimming if the river is on fire,” – sign posted by a river in an industrial Eastern city before Nixon’s EPA efforts.
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“Heureux, les creux, car le royaume des cieux est a eux.” – Mom’s favorite adage about the celestial advantage enjoyed by the dim-witted.
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“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness,” Einstein wrote in his native German.
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“Caveat emptor” – Roman nugget of business wisdom, which translates from the Latin into:
“Let the buyer beware.”
Also, but In contrast, the seller is advised to:
“Caveat venditor” i.e.
“Let the seller beware.”
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“The best thing that could happen to Massachusetts would be
that it fall into the Atlantic Ocean.”
– A spontaneous comment made by my uncle, Colonel Lucian Bolduc of the US Army, while he and I were discussing the Lowell economy during the second and third decades of the 20th Century.
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