Charlie Hebdo
first appeared in 1970 as a successor to the Hara-Kiri magazine, which was banned
for mocking the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle. In 1981 publication
ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992. It is published every Wednesday.
No, I am not going to talk about the controversy and sad happenings
related to Charlie Hebdo. I just want to write a few sentences about its
semantics and pronunciation.
While Charlie is a first name, Hebdo is the short form of 'hebdomidaire' meaning 'weekly' in French. So it is 'Charlie Weekly'. Charlie Hebdo is pronounced as 'Sha(r)lie Ebdo'.
'Je suis Charlie', meaning 'I am Charlie' is intended to demonstrate solidarity with this Weekly.
By the way, there is another quite popular satirical weekly in France- Le Canard Enchaine' . In English it could be translated as The Chained Duck or The Chained Paper ('canard' is French slang meaning 'newspaper'). It is a satirical weekly founded in 1915 during World War I. It it features investigative journalism and 'leaks' from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as many jokes and humorous cartoons.
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