In French, tenir la chandelle means “to act as a chaperone,” though literally it’s “to hold the candle.” Another expression that means “to chaperone” is the antiquated English phrase “to play gooseberry.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Chaperoning”
Grant, not long ago on the show we talked about the expression to hold a candle to.
You remember that, right?
Mm—
Well, there’s an expression in French that translates as to hold the candle.
But do you know what it means?
I don’t know.
It’s different.
In French, to hold a candle means to act as a chaperone.
Very good.
But it’s still related to our To Hold a Candle because it’s the idea that somebody is alongside of you giving you light.
Right.
They’re kind of a third wheel.
And that led me to another term in English, which is to play gooseberry.
To play gooseberry?
Yeah.
What is that?
It’s the same thing.
It means to be a chaperone for somebody.
It was used in the 19th century.
And I don’t know if it had to do with the young couple goes out gooseberry picking and the person goes with them and sort of turns their back to the kids and pretends to pick gooseberries.
But we don’t hear that anymore.
Of course, we don’t really have chaperones that often anymore, I don’t think, do we?
No, these days people just make out when mom and dad are around.
In French also, to see 26 candles, voir trois six chandelles is to see stars.
Like if you get hit on the head?
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, okay.
Not if you’re walking down Hollywood Boulevard.
Oh, okay.
Well, if you’ve come across an interesting word, we want to hear about it.
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