In "Historically Yours", Stéphane Bern tells the story of a phrase or expression every day in his column, "Le mot de la fin".

Thursday, the host looks at the roots of the expression "in two teaspoons", whose origins are not clearly identified, between military efficiency and a royal pregnancy.

Is there such an old-fashioned expression to mean how quickly a task can be completed as "in two spoons of a pot"?

Finding an even more traditional expression is as difficult as determining with precision the origins of this expression which obviously does not date from the 21st century.

In the program

Historically yours

, Thursday afternoon, Stéphane Bern looks at the question and exposes the various hypotheses that try to explain the emergence of this expression in everyday language.

But where does this famous pot spoon come from?

"In two strokes of the pot spoon means 'without difficulty', a bit like 'in two steps, three movements', but with the gastronomic image in addition. There are several possible hypotheses to explain this expression. The most plausible are not are not necessarily the tastiest.

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Just before the First World War, the pot spoon thus designates a large ladle which allows a full ration to be served at once in the military or prison environment, hence the speed and efficiency.

But the pot spoon also corresponds to the cutlass equipped with a shell to protect the hand.

It is therefore a way of deciding on the spot when there is a conflict and of settling it just as effectively.

A very simple birth

Let's keep the best hypothesis for the end: Antoine de Bourbon, Prince of the blood of the Capetian house of Bourbon, had a castle in Pau.

His wife, Queen Jeanne D'Albret, easily gave birth to the one who would become the future Henry IV.

To salute the feat and congratulate his wife in a somewhat Gallic way, he declared 'yesterday, the Queen gave us a little prince in two ass strokes… yesterday in Pau'.

If the authenticity of the anecdote is not certified, note that the pun is worth its weight in peanuts.

Note also that the baby in question, Henry IV, would later become the master of the potty hen.

But that's another story."