Talk:Ha! Ha! Pyramid

A fact from Ha! Ha! Pyramid appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 November 2018 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Ha! Ha! Pyramid (pictured), a monument commemorating a flood in La Baie, Quebec, is covered in 3000 yield signs because the French words for "to yield" and "to help" have the same pronunciation?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2018/November. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Ha! Ha! Pyramid.

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céder/s'aider

Although the Musée du Fjord ref says so, what seems to be an official PDF doesn't mention it at all. In fact, the artist himself says that it's all about the Greek letter delta. I can't really make any sense of what he says next.

There's also a translation issue: "s'aider" means to help each other, not to help [others]. This ended up on DYK as to help, which is incorrect.

Lastly, "céder" is not prounounced like "s'aider" at all. Nobody would think of one when hearing the other. Note that the article on fr.wiki doesn't mention this at all. Isa (talk) 02:00, 22 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A few remarks about the above statement: I believe that the yield sign in French usually says Cédez le passage. Although I am not French, I speak French and regularly visit France, cédez (and probably céder) in my mind is a homonym of s'aider (although some francophones will probably disagree, if you want to decide for yourself, try listening to the pronounciation in the Larousse: céder and s'aider). In the article in the French Wikipedia it is suggested that it is another homonym which is appropriate, namely c'est d, referring to the greek letter d (in French d grec) or delta (in this case the capital form: Δ) which is then turned upside-down, which has a special significance according to the architect. The argument of the factual meaning of s'aider in my mind is one of semantics, as it depends on the context. Aider means to help (it is where the word aid comes from), s'aider can mean to help yourself or others as in marcher en s'aidant d'une canne: to walk with the aid of a walking stick. Another famous example is mayday, which is supposedly derived from m'aider (help me). JHvW 16:52, 22 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@JHvW: the yield sign in French usually says Cédez le passage. I've never seen any text on a yield sign. I speak French and regularly visit France [...] try listening to the pronounciation in the Larousse The article uses Quebec French. The audio doesn't sound anything like it nor does it use a pronunciation I'm familiar with. In fact, it sounds (badly) computer generated. Isa (talk)

I have included a picture of a sign as is used in France. I am not really familiar with Québécois, but as I have stated there will be francophones who would disagree with me. As Jean-Jules Soucy is from Quebec you may be right. It is not my place to do anything but make available what I believe is relevant and in Europe the Larousse is generally regarded as definitive. I'm sorry you do not agree.JHvW 17:28, 23 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]