Avocado In Training: Don't Drown Your Fish

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Don't Drown Your Fish

More French wisdom rolled into charming idioms starring animals:

I drafted a short and sweet response to a client about a question. My colleague told me that she wanted a little more meat to the response, but without "drowning the fish." What is "drowning the fish" I asked?

Apparently, the expression originates from the twentieth century and means to hoodwink, confuse, bamboozle, distract someone from the real issue or make him forget it. It is a reference to the fishing industry, where fishermen repeatedly pull hooked fish in and out of the water to wear them out, I guess so they don't flap about as much when you finally pull them out for good. (Translated from http://www.linternaute.com/expression/langue-francaise/450/noyer-le-poisson/ with my charming commentary at the end).

Pretty good advice for presidential candidates? I think so.

Stop drowning the damn fish!!

1 comment:

AnonymousJuly 18, 2012 at 1:40 PM
I wonder if "red herring" is also related? Here's to more meat!
-Sis
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About Moi

Bonjour!

I have a deep appreciation for the following: my husband (he asked me to move him to the front of the list, fyi), wombats, samosas and the green sauce that comes with them, pandas, Starbucks, gelato, growing plants in little starter kits, non-fat chai tea lattes - hot OR iced, occasionally being an active individual, pencil skirts, my small Kia that has taken me across the Midwest plenty o' times, my family, Disney World, saying I'm from Florida even though I haven't lived there since junior year of high school, and law school friends even though we only ever talk about law school stuff.

I am going to be living in Paris this summer in a studio apartment - with toilets down the hall, mind you - that makes my sister's old Brooklyn studio look positively palatial.

I'm a rising third-year law student. I majored in French in college, but I cannot say that I really expected to get to use it in law school. When the opportunity came up to be able to intern at a law firm in Paris for this summer, I jumped.

Disclaimer?

I read an article the other day about how summer associates should not blog. End of discussion.

But, if you read this thing, you'll find that's not what I'm actually doing.

I am blogging about my life in France: its quirks, my battles with doors that are impossible to open, public transit, the national cinema festival, climbing up the endless stairs to get to my un-airconditioned studio, etc. When I have referenced work, it has always been about projects that are "client-less" or designed for a public audience (i.e., a breakfast conference).

But, just to be clear, my views are my own, and are not intended to reflect on my employer.

And to be clearer, I love my job.