In the new program of Europe 1, "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern looks at the roots of an expression or a phrase of everyday life.
Thursday, he wonders where the expression "to swim between two waters" comes from.
World champion in synchronized swimming, 13 times champion of France, 4 times European champion ... The achievements of Muriel Hermine, born September 3, 1963, make you dizzy. On the occasion of his 57th birthday, Stéphane Bern, who offers every day, in Historically yours with Matthieu Noël, to discover these expressions that we use every day without necessarily knowing their origin, returns to the expression " swim between two waters ".
"In general, this expression is used to designate a person who refuses to commit, who does not make a choice, who spares the goat and the cabbage: in these cases, we are swimming between two waters. It is in fact in the 14th century that we begin to say it and more specifically in the maritime domain: "to swim" means "to drive a boat".
From then on, the captain who managed to swim between two waters was the one who, despite bad currents and headwinds, managed to stay on course in the desired direction.
In France we have, for the same meaning, "to spare the goat le chou", but also "to cut the pear in half", or "to be seated between 2 chairs", which is never ideal, you will agree
In Brazil, we say "have one foot on every canoe"
In Anglo-Saxon countries we use "to swim between two waters", in Brazil we say "have one foot on each canoe" and in Argentina we prefer "quedar bien con dios y con el diablo", you understand: "good behave with God and the devil ".
I can't resist giving you a quote from Fanny ardant: "In love, there is a time to dive, but you have to wait for the pool to fill up if you don't want to dive into a foot bath."
Anyway, happy birthday to Muriel Hermine!
I hope today she is swimming in happiness. "