From: bridegam@pacbell.net   
      
   sgroi wrote:   
   > does anyone know what Gordon says to Rosemary in French?   
   >   
   > 'Veuillez le dire donc selon   
   > Que vous estes benigne et doulche,   
   > Car ce doulx mot n'est pas si long   
   > Qu'il vous face mal en la bouche.'   
   >   
   > Much apreciated.   
   >   
      
   It's from Francois Villon's Rondel #III -- see   
   . I   
   remember reading -- probably on this group some years ago, tho I can't   
   find it via Google now -- that Orwell likely would have known the verse   
   implied a rude pun about oral sex.   
      
   My Penguin Classics translation doesn't include this poem so I'll give   
   an amateur translation:   
      
      
   Please say it then, accordingly   
   as you are good and sweet,   
   Since this sweet word is not so long   
   as to hurt you in your mouth.   
      
      
   The poem is an obscure one in the Villon canon, I think. Orwell was a   
   serious Villon maven.   
      
   HTH,   
      
   /M   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)