0:05Welcome to this video where we
0:07see in a few minutes a French expression.
0:11So today we're going to see the expression "noyer le poisson".
0:17This expression is a bit strange because
0:19drowning a fish, in fact, it's impossible.
0:22The fish breathes in the water. So, let's see what this
0:27expression means, some contextualizations, and especially where it comes from.
0:31So when we say we're trying to drown
0:34the fish, it means we're trying to divert a
0:39conversation. In a conversation with someone, there's a topic that's brought up.
0:45And you, you don't want to talk about it, or you try to talk about something else.
0:50You really try to divert
0:52the conversation so that we stop talking about this subject.
0:56Because it bothers you?
0:59It embarrasses you, or are you not allowed to talk about it?
1:03Because you promised someone that you would not talk about this subject?
1:07So you are really trying to drown the fish.
1:11So you're trying to bury the issue
1:14and move on to another theme in the conversation.
1:19I'll give you some context.
1:21It's okay, it will help you to understand better.
1:24Here is a first context. So often, you can say that politicians try to
1:29drown the fish when they don't have the answer to a question.
1:36If you ask a politician how much
1:39a subway ticket costs in Paris, he might answer that the important thing
1:44is not how much the ticket costs but how much you can
1:49reimburse every year for people who take the subway.
1:54You see, there, he has perfectly drowned the fish.
1:56In fact, he didn't know how to answer the question.
1:59So he diverted the conversation. He covered it up.
2:04He hid a little that he didn't know how to answer by changing the subject.
2:09Changing the subject a bit. Here is another example.
2:14If you have for example a friend
2:16who is pregnant but doesn't want to say so yet, and someone tells you
2:21that you noticed Maria has really put on weight, unless she's pregnant.
2:26And you, you haven't said much.
2:30You keep it a secret, you don't want to talk about it.
2:33So, you're going to try to drown the fish, to divert the conversation
2:38to talk about somebody else instead. For example, you answer:
2:43"Ah, I don't know, I didn't notice.
2:45On the other hand, I don't know if you saw
2:46Sandra, but she is in her eighth month of pregnancy.
2:48She's really huge. It looks like she's going to explode." You have
2:55diverted the conversation, you will have drowned
2:58the fish. This expression, noyer le poisson - the fish - in fact, it comes from a time
3:03when it was used to say that you put a lot of sauce
3:09on the fish to actually hide the taste of a fish
3:12that was not very fresh, which had a strong smell.
3:16It was not very good anymore,
3:18so you put a lot of sauce on it to hide the bad taste of the fish.
3:23That's it for this expression. That's it for today.
3:26I hope you enjoyed this video.
3:30If you liked it, don't forget to give it a thumbs up.
3:34Don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if there are any expressions
3:37that you would like me to explain and put in context.
3:42I wish you all a very, very good
3:43day and I hope to see you very, very soon.