SMALL FRIES -- POISSON d'AVRIL !

April 1st in France would not be a treat without some of these little guys!

This year we've opted for white chocolate fritures, or "small fries," rather 

than the larger, dark or milk chocolate fish. April Fools Day in France is known 

as Poisson d'Avril; the typical prank children play is to cut out paper fish and 

then to surreptitiously stick them onto a school teacher's back.

©2021 P. B. Lecron

 

A FOOL FOR POISSON D'AVRIL

Today's catch                                                               

For more about this light-hearted tradition go to

April Fool--Poisson d'avril

What's Inside a Poisson d'avril?

Artisanal chocolate maker: Au Roi Soleil, 46 rue de la Paroisse, Versailles

www.auroisoleil.com

©2012 P.B. Lecron

WHAT'S INSIDE A POISSON D'AVRIL?

Breaking into a piñata may be more lively, but there's the same element of fun spilling the chocolate friture and candied eggs out of a poisson d'avril, a prelude to the cocotte de Pâques..

This poisson d'avril which we bought yesterday is a simple milk-chocolate child pleaser; more serious chocolate lovers would prefer a higher-grade and more noble chocolat noir. Recommended Parisian chocolatiers that also sell online(!): Marquise-de-Sévigné, Patrick Roger or Jean-Paul Hévin.

Vocabulary
une cocotte de Pâques:  an Easter hen
un poisson:  a fish
un poisson d'avril:  an April Fool's day prank; chocolate or cut-out paper fish
une friture:  a small fish, here chocolate fish
Text & photo ©P.B. Lecron

APRIL FOOL--POISSON D'AVRIL!

Crybaby, my Franco-American hybrid kids' pet fan-tailed goldfish, must have been on my mind when I went to the chocolate shop. 

One more slip of the tongue, this time on the funnest day of the year in most places in the world, April 1.   In France the April's Fool prank is called a poisson d'avril, literally fish of April. The most common gag here is for school children to stick a cut-out paper fish on the back of a teacher or classmate, then giggle about it.

It's a big day for the chocolatier, too, who makes and sells ribbon-clad chocolate poissons d'avril, usually filled with smaller chocolate fish or fritures. Wanting to buy a chocolate fish on a first of April at our town's chocolatier, I inadvertantly asked the salesgirl for a poisson rouge (goldfish). It was not until after she looked at all of the chocolate poissons d'avril on display, then say that she didn't have a poisson rouge, that both of us realized that I had just pulled her leg.

All of these poissons d'avril were swimming around Aux Colonnes, a chocolatier in Versailles. 

Our prettiest poisson d'avril ever--a Lalique fish.

Vocabulary                              
un poisson:  a fish
un poisson rouge:  a goldfish
une friture:  a small fish
chocolatier, ière:   maker or seller of chocolate
faire marcher quelqu'un:  to pull somebody's leg    
une farce:  a prank
un canular:  a hoax
une plaisanterie:  a joke
Expression
Ton lacet est défait:  Your shoelace is untied.

Want more? 
A Fool for Poisson d'Avril

A comedy of errors!
For more language fun, including some of my now famous slips of the tongue :
Sip 'n Slip
Caution: Language Barrier Crossing
Chic, Chickpeas
Madame Malaprop Goes to the Dentist
I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore
It's All in How You Say It
Accidental English
The Artichoke Next Door

Text & photos ©2011 P.B. Lecron