Any fluent French speakers

[deptfordmarmoset]

L'arrivée toute seule, le départ en tout amitié.

(Still thinking. Trying to come up with something using the traveller's pair of arrivée/départ, partly to sidestep the question about which voice to use for the verbs. Though it does end up a bit like ''Arrivals alone, departures in friendship'' )

 

[threebikesmcginty]

how about the motto of the French Navy...

"a l'eau, c'est l'heure"

... I thank you

I thought it was 'Je me rends'

 

[gavroche]

I thought it was 'Je me rends'

As Cambronne said: " Tirez les premiers Messieurs les Anglais! Et merde. "

 

[threebikesmcginty]

As Cambronne said: " Tirez les premiers Messieurs les Anglais! Et merde. "

David Cambronne, the British prime minister?

 

[gavroche]

David Cambronne, the British prime minister?

No, Pierre Cambronne. He was a general of Napoleon and was wounded at the battle of Waterloo. He also said: " La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas" when he was asked to surrender by Wellington.

 

[Aperitif]

David Cambronne, the British prime minister?

Not forgetting Trois Mai, the home sec.

 

[John the Monkey]

I thought it was 'Je me rends'

The motto of the (French) navy is Honneur, patrie, valeur, discipline ("Honour, Fatherland, Valour, Discipline") and these words are found on the deck of every ship in the fleet.

(In case anyone was wondering what it actually is, as I was).

 

[steveindenmark]

Gosh,,,,,look what I started :0)

 

[Jimmy Doug]

Gosh,,,,,look what I started :0)

Any excuse to make fun of the French! But don't worry ... the French enjoy making fun of the English just as much.

 

[stephec]

"It's canard"

"You can say that again bruv"

After five pages of differing answers it looks like Delboy might be right.

 

[mjr]

After five pages of differing answers it looks like Delboy might be right.

The only way to win is not to play...

 

[stephec]

The only way to win is not to play...

As John Motson used to say, "you can't win the raffle if you don't buy a ticket."

 

[mjr]

As John Motson used to say, "you can't win the raffle if you don't buy a ticket."

You can't win when you do, if Delboy's running the raffle!

 

[Mandragora]

Arrive as strangers
Leave as friends

Surely the best translation, in spirit, if not the exact phraseology would be: 'Encore du vin'?

Solves most problems, I've found, and everyone always ends up as friends. Some more friendly than you'd ever suspect at the start of the evening, or is that just my particular experience?

 

[Profpointy]

At the risk of a literary quotation, how about "Parlez vous jig-a-jig mademoiselle?"....