Cross-cultural cockerel
What’s your reaction to this ad? It will depend on several factors: your sensitivity to animals, for instance, but also how much you know about other cultures, as well as a much less obvious factor. I’m willing to bet that many English speakers are thinking “chicken with its head cut off.” What does that saying conjure up? Someone running around frantically. But this chicken isn’t running around.
“Like a chicken with its head cut off” has no literal equivalent in French. An equivalent in panicky meaning would be “être aux cents coups”. This ad appeared in the major French newspaper Libération, and though the text is hard to make out, it has translations in French, namely “Partie terminée” for “Game Over”. So what is a chicken with its head cut off doing in a French ad, when there is no literal equivalent of the English saying?
For one, to French eyes, it’s clearly posed as one of the emblems of France: the Gallic rooster, scientific name Gallus gallus — indeed, it’s an emblem of France in part because of the Latin play on words for “Gallus”, which can mean “Gaul” or “rooster”. The French also like to joke, referring to national pride, that “the cock crows even when standing in its own merde.” The question then becomes, why is a beheaded rooster posed as a symbol of France on a Sony ad with the text “Game Over”?
Well, it appeared in Libération the day after France’s defeat against South Africa in the World Cup. In case anyone doubts the purposeful resemblance, here’s the logo of the French Football Federation (remember, “football” is the word used for “soccer” in Europe):
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June 24th, 2010 at 14:11
Funny… I’ve never heard “être aux cents coups” before. But I can’t think of a French expression for panicking.
I’d probably say “il a perdu les pédales” or “il a pété un polmb”. These can also be used for anger though…
June 24th, 2010 at 19:09
Yes, I actually had to look it up on some language forums to find “être aux cents coups”, I’d never heard it before either. Funny that there doesn’t seem to be a well-defined expression for it in French! I think most people would just say “il a complètement paniqué” or “il ne sait plus où il en est”, but that second one isn’t so much panicking as being lost amongst too much to do. I’d thought of “pété un plomb” too, but like you say, it seems more for anger. So, English speakers have anxiety problems; French speakers have anger problems? Hehehe.