One pun that always confused me is "un vieil habit est un vieil abi". I get that Joly means to say "ami" but messes it up because of his cold, but I don't understand the further significance of the pun. I've looked up "abi" but I can't find any meaning in English or French, so it's either old French or a homonym. The best idea I can come up with is it's making a joke between the connection of a (religious) habit and an abbé (abbot)? Any insight on this pun?
I’m so glad you asked- and I really love your reasoning on it! Let me give you the basic explanation first.
Joly is punning on, yes, “an old coat (habit, which in French sounds more like “abi” ) is an old friend (ami)”. (Hence, Grantaire’s ” particularly in the mouth of a man with a code in his nose” because the way Joly’s pronouncing it they sound the same.)
This pun is ALSO a reference to a Beranger song— Beranger being a very popular lyricist with Hugo’s generation of Romantics, apparently, to go by references— called, shockingly, Mon Habit. Full lyrics are provided by the excellent swutol-sang-scopes here, the first verse already makes the connection pretty clear:
Sois-moi fidèle, ô pauvre habit que j’aime !Ensemble nous devenons vieux.Depuis dix ans, je te brosse moi-même,Et Socrate n’eut pas fait mieux.Quand le sort à ta mince étoffeLivrerait de nouveaux combats,Imite-moi, résiste en philosophe :Mon vieil ami, ne nous séparons pas.(translated)Stick to me still, old coat, beloved though poor Alike we feel this coming on of age : Ten years my hand hath brushed thee — and what more Could have been done by Socrates the sage ? If cruel Fortune to thy threadbare stuff Should new encounters send, Like me, philosophize, to make thee tough : We must not part, old friend ! Oh, and of course the last verse, Ne crains plus tant ces jours de courses vaines Où notre destin fut pareil :Ces jours mêlés de plaisirs et de peines, Mêlés de pluie et de soleil. Je dois bientôt, il me le semble, Mettre pour jamais habit bas.Attends un peu ; nous finirons ensemble :Mon vieil ami, ne nous séparons pas.(translated:
No longer fear those days of courses vain, In which our destiny alike was fixed — Those days made up of pleasure and of pain, When rain and sunshine were together mixed. Soon must I doff my coat for ever here — That way my thoughts will tend — Hold on — we’ll close together our career : We must not part, old friend !)So yeah, it’s a pun and a reference to a song that’s mostly funny and then gets REALLY UPSETTING if you think about the context ! Yaaay, thanks Hugo!
But I also really love your idea of the abbot link, and I am not prepared to say it wasn’t intentional! Thank you for sharing that!
