Talk:Chienlit

Spelling

Due to the obvious potential for misinterpretation, the spelling of the article's title should be "Chi en lit" or "Chi–en–lit." There are three words here, not one.Lestrade (talk) 01:13, 1 May 2010 (UTC)Lestrade

No, actually, there aren't. While the etymology of the word chienlit is generally taken to be derived from a form of the verb chier and the word lit, it is extant in the literature as a single word as far back as the early 16th century (chienlict, as it was spelled at that time). The pronunciation in modern french is also not exactly the same: chie-en-lit is pronounced as 3 syllables and chienlit with only two. In fact, due perhaps to this difference in pronunciation, Voltaire wrote it as chiant-lit, and Balzac as chianlit. So you see it is actually a well established french word, with a history of its own, and a meaning, despite its etymology, that is distinct from "shitting in the bed", as the article accurately relates. Of course these days, thanks largely to de Gaulle's pun, la chienlit is difficult to divorce from its etymology, particularly since the sense of "masquerade" that it originally had is not terribly relevant in a modern context. Eniagrom (talk) 01:11, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

De Gaulle's meaning

De Gaulle meant the phrase to represent a person, usually a child, who soils his own bed. This was analogous to the youthful protesters in 1968 who were harming their own country. It had nothing to do with masquerades, carnivals, or dog beds.Lestrade (talk) 04:35, 1 May 2010 (UTC)Lestrade

Chi = "shit;" "en" = "in;" "lit" = "bed." When someone is said to "shit in bed," it implies "making a mess of the very place in which you live." That is why De Gaulle used it to describe the youth riots.Lestrade (talk) 17:08, 23 May 2011 (UTC)Lestrade

Wit and its relation to youthful revolution

The poster by the 68ers, showing De Gaulle and the words "La chienlit, c'est lui!" [The shit–in–bed is him!] is an infantile way of saying "You're another!" The mass media celebrated this poster as being a powerful reply to De Gaulle's criticism.Lestrade (talk) 16:33, 15 May 2010 (UTC)Lestrade

No dog

It is not "chien" [dog]. It is "chi en" [shit in]. All references to dogs in the article are based on misinterpretation. De Gaulle compared youths who trashed their own country with persons who soil their own bed. Lestrade (talk) 02:35, 26 June 2011 (UTC)Lestrade

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