![](http://www.tumblr.com/share/photo?source=http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F000%2F116%2F19441895%2Clarge.jpg%3F1382211826&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Fcontent%2Fje-ne-te-dirai-pas-vas-te-faire-sucre%2F" title="Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire... sucre!"%3EJe ne te dirai pas vas te faire... sucre!%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EHonoré Daumier
(French, 1808–1879)
Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire...sucre!... (I won't tell you to go get lost, sugar...), 1839
Lithograph
General Acquisitions Fund, 1944.189.5
Daumier used lithography to document and comment upon current events—from political upheavals to societal, cul-tural, and economic trends. The Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century had interrupted the sugar trade between France and the “sugar islands” of the French and British West Indies. As a result, France had launched an aggres-sive campaign to find a local source in the homegrown sugar beet. At the time of this print, however, a law had just been passed reducing a tax on cane sugar from the colo-nies. Thus we see the once embattled sugar cane plant taunting a now prostrate sugar beet plant.
The pun in this caption is lost in translation. The first
sentence can be read literally as “I won’t tell you to go get yourself made into... sugar!” The second sentence resem-bles the idiomatic expression “va te faire cuire un oeuf,” meaning roughly “go jump in a lake” or “go to hell.” How-ever, the first line, “va te faire... sucre!” also bears a rhythmic and phonetic resemblance to the French idiomatic expression, “va te faire foutre,” which is more vulgar than “go to hell.”
—Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire ... sucre! je te dirai vas te faire cuire !
—I won't tell you to go get lost, sugar.... I'll tell you to go get cooked!
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The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19th-Century France
Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire... sucre!
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire...sucre!... (I won't tell you to go get lost, sugar...), 1839 Lithograph General Acquisitions Fund, 1944.189.5
Daumier used lithography to document and comment upon current events—from political upheavals to societal, cul-tural, and economic trends. The Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century had interrupted the sugar trade between France and the “sugar islands” of the French and British West Indies. As a result, France had launched an aggres-sive campaign to find a local source in the homegrown sugar beet. At the time of this print, however, a law had just been passed reducing a tax on cane sugar from the colo-nies. Thus we see the once embattled sugar cane plant taunting a now prostrate sugar beet plant.
The pun in this caption is lost in translation. The first sentence can be read literally as “I won’t tell you to go get yourself made into... sugar!” The second sentence resem-bles the idiomatic expression “va te faire cuire un oeuf,” meaning roughly “go jump in a lake” or “go to hell.” How-ever, the first line, “va te faire... sucre!” also bears a rhythmic and phonetic resemblance to the French idiomatic expression, “va te faire foutre,” which is more vulgar than “go to hell.”
—Je ne te dirai pas vas te faire ... sucre! je te dirai vas te faire cuire ! —I won't tell you to go get lost, sugar.... I'll tell you to go get cooked!