Grade: CE1
School: Chandai
Persons: Madame Bidou, Blonde Boy (unamed)
A blue devil… what does that even mean? To a child’s ears, it’s gibberish, although scary. A scary and powerful phrase for a teacher to wield I never forgot the one instance I heard it uttered.
CE1 (2nd Grade), had a great but old school french teacher… I believe her name was Madame Bidou. She was tough. I mean tougher than any previous teacher I had been a student under.
If you look at the featured picture above, you will see a blond boy at the very bottom left corner. Unfortunately, I have forgotten his name. No matter though… we weren’t good friends anyway. I remember him being normal, although quiet and awkward. Really just not outgoing. Anyway, this young boy is the victim of today’s memory.
Classroom-wise, I was actually sitting in the very seat he is sitting in, and he is sitting in the seat I am sitting in the picture. The whole classroom was working on an assignment. Madame Bidou would walk around and observe. Intimidating! She was not afraid to call a student out or hurl a motivating insult. She made her way to my blonde friend, looked over his shoulder to observe the work, and immediately entered a frustrated state. He must’ve really not done the work correctly. She got on him about it and ended it by calling him a blue devil. I think she may even have pulled his ear right after. I don’t know why this memory stuck with me so vividly, I just remember being so surprised as I had never heard a teacher call someone “un diable bleue”.
Upon my return home, I told my mom about what happened. Sadly I don’t recall her response to the matter. This type of verbal discipline was normal in France at the time so it probably didn’t come as a shock to her. Honestly, me neither! I was just so puzzled by what a blue devil insult was!
Hopefully, our blonde victim did a better job next time!
*UPDATE*
I have conducted some research to see if this is a French phrase and I have become pretty enlightened by the meaning! Apparently, “les diables bleus” were an “elite mountain warfare infantry unit” in France during World War 1. Perhaps, I had misunderstood why she called him a Blue Devil! Maybe she wasn’t talking to him but about what he was writing on. I think I may have misunderstood! Although I still feel like she used it as an insult. Either way… she pulled his ear pretty hard!
The Merriam Webster dictionary says it can be used to describe someone in low spirits, among other definitions and usages.
Les Diables Bleus: https://sites.duke.edu/michaelcaoprojectsearch2019/argument-1/
Blue Devil Definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blue%20devil
Jeremie Grandemange 