Page 66 - Studio International - January February 1975

like GROS THE, is milder slang for the BAINS DE GROS THE is GRAINS CHOU-FLEUR cauliflower plants).
same thing. The phonetic allusion is DE BEAUTE BEAUTE. Although GRAINS DE 2. 'to suck; to booze'. 3. (n.) 'head'. 4. the
almost unavoidable, and yet the viewer BEAUTE means beauty marks or moles, pun, les tettes, 'tits'. 5. also, TETE,
may simply have time to sense 'something the idiom easily refers to beautiful especially in conjunction with
dirty' without knowing precisely why. women or perhaps to prostitutes. Also, ET N'AIME PAS 'who doesn't like'
Since the suffix -té is used for since tea is related to coffee, the pun implies obstinacy, e.g. tau (adj.)
expressing sentiments (e.g. liberté, grains de beau the (lit.: grains of beautiful `stubborn' and tete de lard (idiom)
fraternité, egalité, `Droste', etc.), a pun tea) seems related to the vulgar idiom `fathead', and also the common insult,
on GROS THE is `Droste, an easily grains de cafe (lit.: grains of coffee) `grosse tete'. Here again is a set of
invented word for the lofty sentiment, which means the clitoris. definitions which work together in many
vulgari-tea.'
. SANS TROP DE BENGUE different dimensions.
GROS means thick or fat and `without too much BENGUE'. Souffler is slang for swindle. A
unrefined or vulgar. It also means BENGUE is perhaps its pun, bain 'bath', homonym of CHAIR 'flesh' is cher 'there
common, since it is a wholesaler's word and gai 'gay' and also 'tipsy'. It is also `expensive'. Since in French any adjective
for dealings in quantity. Du gros rouge the unguent Ben Gay, invented by a may perform as a noun by the addition of
is slang for cheap red wine, and thus French doctor BENGUE, with such an an article, chaude may be 'the hot one'
`du gros the' could similarly mean unguent's erotic connotations — the (feminine gender). CHOU-FLEUR
ordinary tea. From the literal modern counterpart is 'Deep Heat'. relates to SOUFFLEUR which can be
translation, the phrase could in Ben Gay advertised in the American broken down into sou-fleur 'penny
mockery really mean vulgar tea. In Sunday funnies with a little green troll flower', which would be a prostitute.
France, tea has long been considered a (named Peter Pain of all names) who SERRE CHAUDE 'hot glass house'
rather elegant drink and since the stabbed in the pain and then hopped away would be a brothel. The sentence thus
common man there drinks coffee, vanquished, growling 'Curses, foiled taken is that the child who sucks is a
taking tea can be a bit snobbe. Throughout again', as the little wife massaged Ben swindler of an expensive hot one who
this whole phrase, elegance and Gay on her hubby's hurting muscles. It (anyway) does not like the prostitute of
vulgarity are simultaneously suggested, seems evident that such an ad, like the the brothel.
inflating each other by contrast, ad for Sapolin Enamels, would strike The sentence contains strong hints of
deflating each other by contamination Duchamp's fancy. homosexuality and or oral intercourse,
and mockery, and this double dimension In the rhyming relationship of GROS, and the tight overlay of words gives a
relates to the ambivalent perspective of BEAU and TROP; GROS and BEAU grammatical parallel. Faire choux-choux
the film's spiralling optics. are opposites, TROP is 'too much' so is slang for homosexual love-making.
BAINS means baths and that is that even here, the spiral goes in and out. Souffler is often used to imply oral
obviously cleanly — but it is no sooner intercourse in idioms such as souffler dans
said than it is slurred. From DE GROS L'ENFANT QUI TETE EST UN la canne, souffler dans le merliton, etc.
THE comes the vulgar slang déecrotter SOUFFLEUR DE CHAIR CHAUDE TETE (n.) 'head' with all of its
(literally: to de-crap, cf. crotte) 'to ET N'AIME PAS LE CHOU- implications in the first phrase relates to
spruce up: to primp, to smarten'. FLEUR DE SERRE CHAUDE. CHOU-FLEUR in the last phrase in that
Duchamp took the pseudonym Rrose This sentence can also be divided into CHOU means head. FLEUR can also
Sélavy, with which he signed this film, three: refer to the genitals, and CHOU-FLEUR
after he signed a card to his close friend L'enfant que ate is related by consonance to
Picabia as, 'Pis qu'habilla Rrose Sélavy.' est un souffleur de chair chaude SOUFFLEUR 'blower, sucker'. If the
This pun can have no literal translation, et n'aime pas le chou-fleur de serre chaude. words TETE and EST were reversed (the
except that it is a very close phonetic A literal translation would be: The sentence would still sound almost the
linking of the names Picabia and Rrose child who nurses is a sucker (blower) same), the sentence would read: The
Sélavy, since a double r needs a vowel as of hot flesh and does not like the child who is, sucks a blower (sucker,
introduction. In fact, it is so close as cauliflower of the hot glass-house. ravisher) of hot flesh .. .
perhaps to imply a sexual relationship This sentence could have very gentle Duchamp has said, 'I would like to
between the two. Although Pis qu' overtones: L'ENFANT 'child' is a term grasp an idea as the vagina grasps the
habilla is not literal French, it suggests of endearment; souffler means to blow penis.' Serrer (v.) means to grasp, and
piquer 'to prick' and habile 'skilful' — gently, to sigh or to whisper; cher 'dear' then . . . ET N'AIME PAS LE
obviously these are sexual allusions. The is a pun on CHAIR `flesh'; CHOU CHOU-FLEUR DE SERRE CHAUDE
moral judgement and guilt are still there, `darling' is a term of endearment, as is would mean : . . . who does not like the
however, as pis means worst and FLEUR 'flower' (e.g. 'petite fleur'); flowering genitals of the hot sexual grasp.
habillé means clothed. The pseudonym serrer means to hug. Both Lebel and Schwarz have written
has been widely interpreted as 'Eros, CHAIR CHAUDE 'warm flesh' of Duchamp's interest in alchemy.
c'est la vie,' while Robert Lebel refers to the mother's breast, and then A SOUFFLEUR is someone who is
interprets it as `arrose, c'est la vie' and the forthright meaning is something like, looking for the philosopher's stone, and
relates it to the 'malic function.' the child is nursing because he does not Duchamp's quest lies in the elusive
I include this explanation since like vegetables. CHAIR CHAUDE spiral.
baigner 'to bathe' (from BAINS DE literally means hot flesh, and souffler
GROS THE) is a synonym of arroser also means to blow on food that is too hot; SI JE TE DONNE UN SOU, ME
`to wet, to moisten'. This synonym thus, SOUFFLEUR DE CHAIR DONNERA-TU PAIRE DE
relates to the pseudonym and to the CHAUDE is: blower of hot flesh-food. CISEAUX ?
`malic function'. Baigner 'to bathe' The homonym chère (from the idiom: The form of this sentence is simple. A
means also to touch and to surround, bonne there) is an elegant word for fine literal translation is easy: If I give you a
as would the spiralling circles of the quality food. At the same time, souffler penny, will you give me a pair of scissors ?
optic discs. DE GROS THE suggests implies blowing on flesh that hurts, so In colloquial French, although it is
grotte 'cavern' which could also be the that CHAIR CHAUDE would be grammatically incorrect, scissors are not
vagina, and thus BAINS DE GROS painful flesh. Thus this phrase refers usually referred to as a pair except in
THE (`baths of the vagina') is already an succinctly to elegance, heat, food, wood-working and tool shops. One
allusion to sexual intercourse. Dans le sexuality, child-mother, and pain. The speaks of un ciseau in the singular.
bain (lit.: in the bath) is idiom for a real `definition' becomes unwieldy, like the Duchamp's version may be language
involvement in something, so that just perspective of the optic spirals. contamination from English. It is
as we penetrate the spirals are we also TETE has several implications as well : certainly a deliberate use of the word
drawn into this first phrase and its i. (v.) 'to nurse' — and, obviously, PAIRE. The subject of the sentence is a
implied vulgarity, and unavoidably into mention of nursing in a context so full of pair (I, you; you, me), and the pair of
the sexual connotations of the entire sexual innuendoes must imply incest, scissors refers to a pair of thighs, a pair of
phrase. which is also a spiralling inward — (also, legs. 'If I give you a penny, will you give
Because of the preposition POUR 'for' incidental to this theme, in French me a fuck ?'
or 'intended for', the receiver of folklore, children are born in In the Large Glass there is also a pair of
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