Lap it up! "boire du petit-lait"

In a couple of hours many children and adults will enjoy ice cream at this emblematic place known as "The Hood Milk Bottle" next to the Boston Children Museum, along the Harbor Walk.

This all-wood 40-foot-high structure, which could hold about 50,000 gallons of milk, was built in 1934 by Arthur Gagner and served as a stand to sell homemade ice cream, next to his store, located in Taunton, Massachusetts.

Hood’s dairy (New England oldest and largest dairy Company) purchased the bottle in 1977 and after extensive renovations donated it the Children Museum.

The journey across Boston Harbor to ship the giant structure was dubbed as “The Great Bottle sail”. Click Click here to see the picture.

And if you want to see more geant milk bottles in the US, go visit this site .

Dans quelques heures, de nombreux enfants et adultes savoureront une glace dans cet endroit emblématique connu sous le nom de «The Hood Milk Bottle » (la bouteille de lait Hood), située à coté du Boston Children Museum (musée des enfants), le long de la promenade du port.

Cette structure tout en bois de 12 m de haut, qui pourrait contenir environ 189 270 litres de lait, fut construite en 1934 par Arthur Gagner et servait comme stand de vente de glaces, à coté de son magasin, situé à Taunton, dans le Massachusetts.

Hood (la plus ancienne et la plus grosse compagnie de produits laitiers de la Nouvelle Angleterre) la racheta en 1977 et après l’avoir restaurée en fit don au Children Museum.
Le transport en bateau à travers le port de Boston pour déplacer la structure géante fut surnommé « la traversée de la grande bouteille ». Cliquez ici pour la photo.
Et si vous voulez voir d'autres bouteilles de lait géantes aux Etats-Unis, allez sur ce site .

French Expression in context / Expression française en contexte

“ Boire du petit-lait! " (lit: to drink whey!). To lap it up ! Origin : This French expression appeared in the 16th century in the form of« avaler doux comme lait » (to drink/to swallow soft as milk) to describe people who enjoyed receiving praise avidly, in reference to the milk which evokes sweetness and pleasure. This figurative saying then became “boire du lait” (drink milk) to express delight. It also confers an affective connotation:"Le lait de la tendresse humaine" (The Milk of Human Kindness) Shakespeare. This is only in the beginning of the 20th century, that the descriptive adjective “petit” is added to reinforce the idea of exquisite contentment when savouring a situation. The “petit-lait” (whey) is supposed to give a sensation of freshness and smoothness.