The origin of this expression (also used in Holland) is obscure.
It may refer to the period when Prussian troops lived like lords between the battle of Waterloo and the Restoration of Louis XVII;
Or to the time of Louis XIV when France was declared the Eldest Daughter of the Church;
Or to the Emperor Maximilian I who, according to Zincgref-Weidner's "Apophthegmata" of 1694, said or wrote: 'If I were God and had two sons, the elder would become God, and the younger would become King of France.'
It might also refer to the joy of Jews whose rights were restored by the French revolutionaries, for there is an expression in Yiddish: "lebn vi Got in Ades" (to live like God in Odessa), because the attractive Black Sea port of Odessa (founded in 1794) attracted a great number of Jews, who accounted for 30% of the population at the beginning of the 20th century.
Certainly, such a rich, fecund, and varied country as France might be considered an ideal place for God to live - provided the Creator did not have to cope with the self-serving bureaucracy.
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The origin of this expression (also used in Holland) is obscure.
It may refer to the period when Prussian troops lived like lords between the battle of Waterloo and the Restoration of Louis XVII;
Or to the time of Louis XIV when France was declared the Eldest Daughter of the Church;
Or to the Emperor Maximilian I who, according to Zincgref-Weidner's "Apophthegmata" of 1694, said or wrote: 'If I were God and had two sons, the elder would become God, and the younger would become King of France.'
It might also refer to the joy of Jews whose rights were restored by the French revolutionaries, for there is an expression in Yiddish: "lebn vi Got in Ades" (to live like God in Odessa), because the attractive Black Sea port of Odessa (founded in 1794) attracted a great number of Jews, who accounted for 30% of the population at the beginning of the 20th century.
Certainly, such a rich, fecund, and varied country as France might be considered an ideal place for God to live - provided the Creator did not have to cope with the self-serving bureaucracy.
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