"A few acres of snow" (in the original French, "Quelques arpents de neige") is a quotation from Voltaire popularly understood to be a sneering evaluation of New France's — and, by extension, Canada's — lack of mercantile value and strategic importance to France. It is regularly quoted by Canadians and particularly Quebecers who want to prove that Canada is worth much more than Voltaire's dismissive perception. Poet Louis-Honoré Fréchette paid himself a revenge on Voltaire in his poem "Sous la statue de Voltaire" ("Under the statue of Voltaire"), published in La légende d'un Peuple (1887). The Québécois have had their own revenge on this supposedly dismissive summation of their country by punningly calling the French language edition of Trivial Pursuit "Quelques arpents de pièges" (a few acres of traps). Jump to: navigation, search The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ... Jump to: navigation, search New France (French: la Nouvelle-France) describes the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 to the cession of New France to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763. ... Quebecers was a tag team in the WWE (then WWF) from late 1993 to mid-1994. ... Louis-Honoré Fréchette Louis-Honoré Fréchette, (November 16, 1839 – May 31, 1908), poet, playwright, and short story writer born in Lévis, Québec, Canada. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... Trivial Pursuit is a board game where progress is determined by a players ability to answer general knowledge or popular culture questions. ...

The quotation in full, found in Candide, is: "Vous savez que ces deux nations sont en guerre pour quelques arpents de neige vers le Canada, et qu'elles dépensent pour cette belle guerre beaucoup plus que tout le Canada ne vaut" ("You know that these two nations are at war over a few acres of snow near Canada, and that they are spending on this little war more than all of Canada is worth"). Jump to: navigation, search Candide, ou lOptimisme, (English: Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. ...

However, in practice the phrase is misremembered or misunderstood by most who quote it. In a popular version, Voltaire is said to have written: "La Nouvelle-France: quelques arpents de neige qui ne valent pas les os d'un grenadier français" ("New France: a few acres of snow that aren't worth the bones of a French grenadier"). In another rendition, he is quoted as saying: "quelques arpents de neige, habités par des barbares, des ours et des castors" ("a few acres of snow, inhabited by barbarians, bears and beavers"). Neither of these phrases appear anywhere in Voltaire's body of work. Most commonly, however, the quote is simply taken out of context and it is plainly stated that Voltaire called Canada quelques arpents de neige. A Grenadier was originally a specialized assault trooper for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the early 17th century. ... Jump to: navigation, search Barbarian was originally a Greek term applied to any foreigner, one not sharing a recognized culture or language with the speaker or writer employing the term. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other meanings, see Bear (disambiguation). ... Species C. canadensis C. fiber Beavers are semi-aquatic rodents native to North America and Europe. ...

The "few acres of snow" he was referring to is actually the region of Acadia, now split between the Canadian Maritimes and New England. Although this region is largely part of modern Canada, it was never referred to as Canada in Voltaire's day. New France included Canada, Acadia, Louisiana, and other territories. Thus, a few acres of snow near Canada could not refer to New France as a whole or even to Canada, but only to Acadia, the only other North American territory under dispute between England and France at the time. The national flag of Acadia, adopted in 1884. ... The Maritimes or Maritime provinces are a region of Canada on the Atlantic coast, consisting of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. ... Jump to: navigation, search While the states marked in red show the core of New England, the regions cultural influence may cover a greater or lesser area than shown. ... Jump to: navigation, search Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK...

All this is not to suggest Voltaire had a particularly high opinion of Canada — the second part of the quote indicates that Voltaire thought the costs of the war were greater than Canada's total value. But his phrase "a few acres of snow" was not meant to refer to all of New France.

See also

• Soviet Canuckistan

One satirical flag of Soviet Canuckistan Another satirical flag of Soviet Canuckistan Soviet Canuckistan is an unflattering epithet for Canada, used by Pat Buchanan on October 31, 2002, on his television show on MSNBC in which he denounced Canadians as anti-American and the country as a haven for terrorists. ...

Some examples of misquotation in the Canadian media

• Quartier Libre
• La Conquête par le Traité de Paris
• Robert Leckie, A Few Acres of Snow: The Saga of the French and Indian Wars. Wiley, 2000, ISBN 0471390208.
• The People of New France by Allan Greer

External links

• Free eBook of Candide, ou l'optimisme at Project Gutenberg (The arpents de neige quote can be found in Chapter XXIII, approximately halfway down the page.)
• La légende d'un Peuple, Louis Fréchette (PDF in French)