— 261 — 



considered as quite the proper thing. A witty French 

 author asserted that " God Dam " ttait le fonds de la 

 langue anglaise " — the root of the English language ! 

 whilst the Vicomte de Parny, an elegant writer, com- 

 posed a poem in four cantos, bearing that profane title. 

 Long before and after the British soldiers " swore so 

 dreadfully in Flanders " ; long before and after Cam- 

 bronne uttered his malodorous juron, on the Field of 

 Waterlow — though, it must be confessed in extenuation, 

 the incidents of the day were ugly enough to make any 

 of Napoleon's vieilles moustaches swear most emphati- 

 cally—swearing was indulged in all over Europe. 



Before venturing to compare the expletives of old 

 with those used by New France, I may be allowed to 

 quote, a peculiar, chirpy oath, in favor among the 

 Voyageurs des Pays d'En Haut : " Tors mon dme aw 

 bout d'un piquet " / How the twisting of one soul's at 

 the end of a fence-rail was to be done, was ever a puzzle 

 to me. I could, however, imagine a raftsman, or 

 Coureur - de - bois, wishing to be impressive, sand- 

 wiching his broken french dialogue, with such words as 

 " Mille Tonnerres ! " in imitation of the Bunder and 

 Blytzen. in use in the Yaterland, 



Let us examine some french jurons ! 



" Jarniou" uttered by a blasphemous unbeliever in 

 God, is derived from J ami (je renie) and Dieu. — Je 

 renie Dieu : I deny God. To escape the charge of 

 impiety, persons, altered it to Jarnibleu or Jarnicoton ; 

 the origin of this expletive is quaintly related. 



T'is said Henri IV, had contracted the perverse habit 

 of repeating " I deny God ". Father P. Coton, his 

 confessor, had pointed out to him the impropriety of 

 such language, to which the king replied, that with the 

 exception of God's name, none other was so familiar to 

 him as that of Father Coton. 



— Well, Sire, readily retorted the pious Father, say 

 " I deny Coton, " hence Jarnicoton. 



