Period glossary : 4
-
ExpressionBadinguet
A nickname given to Napoleon III. It was the name of the workman whose clothes he wore when he contrived to escape from the fort of Ham, in 1846. “If Badinguet and Bismarck have a row together let them settle it between them with their fists, instead of troubling hundreds of thousands of men who … […]
-
ExpressionBistro
It has been suggested that the French word “bistrot” dates back to 1812 and the invasion of Russia. Whilst on campaign, the French hussars of the Grande Armée took to frequenting the taverns along the route, in search of food and a bit of fun. The bar's Cossack clientele, keen to avoid the company of […]
-
Expressionbogeyman, boney
During the height of the Napoleon scare, 1803-1805, when the Camp de Boulogne was in full swing and Napoleon really seemed to be about to invade the British Isles, propaganda in Britain painted Napoleon as the devil incarnate. They called him Boney, which itself became corrupted to Bogey and Bogeyman, as the following nursery rhyme […]
-
ExpressionBoustrapa
A nickname for Napoleon III. The word is compounded of the first syllables Bou[logne], Stra[sbourg], Pa[ris], and alludes to his escapades in 1836 and 1840. (E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898) The term/criticism was invented by Victor Hugo in the poem Châtiments published in 1853. Napoleon III was the subject of a […]