"My little rascal told me!" : what does this expression mean

The little riquiqui is the finger that reports to the mother or the father the foolishness that the child has committed:

to speak of it in Angevin.

It seems that this tiny little, this little finger, has had this role of informer, of informer for centuries.

We find proof of this in Scene VIII of Act II of Molière's The Imaginary Invalid:

ARGAN - Here is my little finger however which growls something.

Wait.

Hey!

ah, ah;

yes ?

Oh oh ;

here is my little finger which tells me something which you have seen, and which you have not told me.

LOUISON Oh!

my daddy, your little finger is a liar.

The other four fingers also have their regional designation.

The

(or

) designates the ring finger;

the

, the middle finger, the

(or

), the thumb.

As for that of the index, it expressively represents the use that we make of this finger, the one that goes in search of the last lick in the jar of jam or chocolate in the bottom of the saucepan: the

or

Excerpt from

Find the entire book on our Figaro Store.