From the nightly news to time zones: An inside look at French time

FRANCE 24 English

It's time to take a look at time. In this edition of Entre Nous, we look at a few of the specifically French traditions in regard to "le temps", or time. Be it the nightly news ("le 20h"), or France's many time zones, or a few of the many expressions in French, we find out all about French time.  A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina Robertson.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00It's time now for our Entre-News segment, and today we are talking about time.

00:05Solange Moujon joins me in the studio for more.

00:07Hi, Solange.

00:08Hi, Katie.

00:09So you're going to break down some of the intricacies of France's relationship to

00:11le temps, or time, in French, and you're starting with an hour that really is a code

00:15word here in France, le 20h.

00:17What's that?

00:18Well, as anyone in France will tell you, the 20-hour, or le 20h, is the commonly used name

00:24for the nightly news, and people actually do call it this, not the 8 p.m. news.

00:29French speakers use military time, or the 24-hour clock when they speak, and it actually

00:34took me quite a long time to get used to the same thing.

00:36Me too.

00:37It was difficult.

00:38Now, as for the Vendeur, the news program, it is still widely followed in France, or

00:43by some 47% of TV viewers.

00:46That accounts for up to 10 million people watching it every night between one of the

00:52two main channels, TF1 and France 2.

00:55Now, some people even call it La Grande Messe, a high mass, because it remains, in some families,

01:01a nightly and nationwide ritual.

01:04But the first Vendeur was actually at 21h, or at 9 p.m.

01:09France's first TV program news aired 75 years ago on June 29th, 1949, and at the time, less

01:16than 1% of the population had a TV, so people gathered in meeting halls, in town halls,

01:21to watch.

01:22And that first news program, it was actually a technical feat, but it ended quite badly

01:27when it comes to live television, as journalists explained on the 50th anniversary.

01:33I wanted to tell you that the newsreels you see were silent, like all TV stories at the

01:39time.

01:40So journalists in the studio would provide live commentary and a sound mixer would choose

01:44a record to create the ambience.

01:46To boost audiences, on June 29th, the producer wanted to show Paris from the sky.

01:51But a strong wind blew the hot air balloon into an electric wire, which caused a fire.

01:57And that, it seems, became the first minor news story.

02:01Now that first news show, it lasted 15 minutes.

02:04Today, TF1, their news show lasts between 40 and 50 minutes, and France 2's broadcast

02:09was actually in the news lately because, last month, because it has launched a longer program,

02:14it is now an hour-long show.

02:16This is an attempt by France 2 to boost its ratings and to move the dial in regard to

02:20what the nightly news can be, namely with more in-depth stories, and now that shorter

02:25segments are all over our phones.

02:27Finally, we can't talk about the 20th without touching on politics.

02:308pm sharp is the moment during elections where the new president's face is unveiled, like

02:38in 1981 when both candidates had bald heads, making the suspense even greater as the image

02:44ticked down, showing François Mitterrand's face.

02:46Now, this tradition stands true today.

02:49French people tune in to Le Venteur on presidential election nights, unless, of course, you're

02:55watching cable or France 24.

02:56So, Solange, compared to other countries, like, for example, the United States, where

02:59the traditional news program might be earlier, say at 6.30 or 7, here the primetime news

03:04is a bit later, Le Venteur, at 8pm.

03:06Why?

03:07Well, part of this is cultural.

03:08Many shops and offices close later here at around 7.30 rather than 5.30 or 5, like in

03:14the U.S.

03:15There's also a positive view of staying late in the office, or présentéisme, or being

03:21a worker in your seat.

03:22But this breakdown of time in the day also has a lot to do with France's time zone.

03:28I should actually say time zones, because France has 12 different time zones, 13 if

03:33you count France's claim in Antarctica.

03:36This is due, of course, to France's former colonies or overseas departments and territories.

03:41The English expression, the sun never sets on the British Empire, can still, for better

03:46or worse, hold true to France.

03:48It currently has the most time zones of any nation in the world.

03:52But back to mainland France, which, unlike most of the colonies, does use daylight savings

03:57times.

03:58And the clocks are actually going to go back here on October 27, so quite soon, so get

04:03ready for that.

04:05This still happens, despite the fact that 83% of French people would rather stick to

04:09one time all year round.

04:11The daylight savings time rhythm was actually reintroduced in France in 1976 to save energy.

04:18But today, studies show that such savings, well, they're actually very, very minor.

04:24One needs to understand that energy efficiency is getting better overall.

04:28We no longer use as many incandescent light bulbs, but LED ones.

04:32That saves a huge amount of energy, and in regard to heating, compared to the 1970s,

04:37insulation is also improved.

04:38So this means that we're saving less energy than we did 50 years ago.

04:43Now a 2018 push on the European level to scrap daylight savings entirely has actually been

04:48stalled.

04:49A standardization could actually create a slew of geopolitical issues between countries.

04:53But in regard to France's time, its time zone is GMT plus one, even though when you actually

04:58look at a map, geographically, its longitude shows that it should actually be on the same

05:03time zone as the UK.

05:05Interesting.

05:06All right.

05:07Solange, just to wrap up, you've chosen a few French expressions linked to time and

05:10numbers that French speakers use quite often here.

05:12Tell us.

05:13Yeah, and I even actually learned a few myself.

05:15Let's start out with the numerical ones.

05:17The first one, the first ones show how much the French day is broken into mealtime moments.

05:23You have le quatre heure.

05:24This is shorthand for snack time or le goûter.

05:27And then you have entre midi et deux.

05:29This refers to workers' daily lunch break.

05:31It's often used in regard to shop hours, such as, are you closed between 12 and two,

05:35or entre midi and deux heures?

05:37Then you have cinq à sept.

05:39This is an expression to describe when lovers meet up or the hours between the workday and

05:44home life for those having affairs.

05:47Then of course, as we explained earlier, there's the vingt heures, the famous vingt heures,

05:50the nightly news hour, which also for a short time became a moment when French people clapped

05:55at their balconies and hit metal pans to thank first responders during COVID.

06:03For the health workers, there are people who are spending all their time saving others'

06:08lives.

06:09I think we owe them this.

06:11Now, there are a whole slew of other expressions and I can't get to most of them, but I wanted

06:17to highlight a few stellar ones.

06:18There is the quart d'heure de politesse, or the 15 minute grace period.

06:23This can be used either as an excuse when you're a tiny bit late, or it can actually

06:27be used on purpose as showing up at friends' houses a few minutes late so as to give them

06:32more time to prepare.

06:34You can always do that at my house.

06:36I won't come early.

06:38You have the quart d'heure américain, or the American quarter hour, which means ladies'

06:42choice, like at dances.

06:44Then there's passer un sale quart d'heure, or having a rough time.

06:48And then chercher midi à 14h, or complicating things by looking for noon at 2pm.

06:54And finally, the one that I did not know at all is midi pétante, or noon sharp.

06:58Now, why pétante?

06:59Well, the word means a fart or a burst, and I wanted to leave you with this final story

07:04because it is quite sweet.

07:05Back when people's watches were not reliable, Parisians would use sundials to set their

07:10watches.

07:11A popular place to do this was the Palais Royal in central Paris.

07:14And the story goes that the refurbishments of the building did away with a sundial that

07:19was popular there.

07:20So a clockmaker set up a little cannon in 1789, and the sun's rays would make it burst

07:25gunpowder at noon.

07:27Sadly, the statuette was stolen, but it has now been replaced by a replica.

07:32During the French Heritage Day, or Les Journées de Patrimoine, it does blast off, now electronically,

07:37at noon.

07:38But what I love about it is that the expression that was engraved on the original cannon.

07:42In Latin, it was written, Horace non numeri ni si serena, which means, I only count the

07:50happy hours.

07:51Oh, I love that.

07:52Solange, thank you so much for telling us all about time, or le temps, here in France.

07:56So that's France 24's Solange Moujon.

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