for the love of the penguin

[Derek Broughton]

Renaud (Ron) Olgiati wrote:

> On Thursday 14 December 2006 11:23, my mailbox was graced by a missive
>  from Peter Whittaker <pwwnow at gmail.com> who wrote:
> 
>> > I don't know the exact circumstances about de Gaulle's joke(?), but
>> > sometimes humour is the best way to make a point.   :-)
> 
>> Was it meant as a joke? We'll never really know, what with the next line
>> (Vive le Canada francais) having been drowned out by the wildly
>> enthusiastic cheers of the crowd.

Of course we know.  He wasn't stupid - saying something like that as a joke
is something that a few national leaders I can think of would have said,
but not De Gaulle.
> 
>> What do the two lines together mean? Your guess is as good as mine, but
>> I'll bet he was playing the classic Janus politician, trying to please
>> everyone and failing spectacularly.
> 
> I think he was trying to (and succeeded in) pissing the Americans off.

Really?  Do you think a single member of the American public, or more than
half-a-dozen members of the American administration even noticed?  It was
squarely aimed at Canadians - those who believed in separatism _and_ those
who want a united Canada.
-- 
derek