In the Europe 1 program "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern examines the roots of an expression of everyday life.
Tuesday, he is interested in the origins of "living sparingly", an expression which designates the fact of living, not totally penniless, but with few financial and material resources.
Stéphane Bern offers every day, in
Historically yours
with Matthieu Noël, to discover these expressions that we use on a daily basis without necessarily knowing their origin.
Monday, the host explains to us the roots of the expression "to live poorly", which designates the fact of living with little
.
When, in a sudden or voluntary way, we decide to live by reducing our consumption or to approach life in a more modest way, in moderation, we say that we "live sparingly" or "sparingly".
A "chick" which has nothing to do with that of the game "cap or not cap", nor with the kebab, nor with the chickpea.
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In kebab, this term refers to the metal spit on which the meat is cooked.
Concerning the chickpea, the word comes from the Latin "cicé".
It is found in the English "chick pea".
Cicero, the famous Roman statesman, has a name which means "chickpea".
His supporters explain it because he would have been a chickpea merchant.
His detractors say it's because he had a big wart on his nose the size of a chickpea.
Walking on elbows to spare your shoes
But let's come back to our "living sparingly".
In the 12th century, a chick was a tight-fisted.
Living sparingly therefore takes on its full meaning: we lived with a minimum of expenditure.
Today, living sparingly has rather got rid of its connotation of avarice.
The expression describes those who have chosen to veer in a certain weighting, whatever their motivations.
In Spanish, to say "to live sparingly", we say "caminar con los codos".
Understand "walking on elbows", an activity that does not damage your shoes.
In Algerian Arabic, we find the formula "he is a butcher and he eats turnips", when there is no money to buy meat.
In the Netherlands, people prefer "not to have a fingernail to scratch your buttocks".
A chic and classy expression.