About.

"C'est ici qu'on récolte la moitié du sel français" is a phrase some French people on Twitter and other platforms use to sardonically describe the clapbacks and angry responses of others. The phrase means the person described is salty and displays animosity, anger and bitterness.

Origin

"C'est ici qu'on récolte la moitié du sel français" translated as "It is here that we harvest half of French salt" -- is a phrase taken from popular French educational documentary "C'est pas Sorcier" (It's not magic) which aired from 1997 to 2014.^[1] The series was widely-watched, with some to this day comparing its cultural place in France to the cultural place of Bill Nye in the United States.^[2]

The clip of the episode in which the phrase was said aired in 2000. Presenter Frédéric Courant visits a salt marsh in southern France and enthusiastically announces "Et ici, rien qu'ici, sur les bords de la Méditerranée et essentiellement autour de l'embouchure du Rhône, on récolte la moitié du sel français. Mmh, et il est bon hein !" (in English)
“And here, just here, on the shores of the Mediterranean and essentially around the mouth of the Rhône, we harvest half of French salt. Mh, and it is good, huh!" while taking a bite from a chunk of salt.^[3]

Spread

A post from Francophone Reddit meme page r/rance from u/korosif on July 11, 2018, remixed the original "C'est pas sorcier" video by adding subtitles which seemed to suggest French salt came from Belgium, calling out Belgians as salty. The remix received 2,225 upvotes 159 comments.^[2]

Relatively frequent Twitter use from 2018 onwards is recorded, and reportedly, the phrase is widely used in the French language League of Legends gamer community.

An example of the Twitter use of the phrase, which usually appears in replies, is below. In the initial Tweet, a local government official appears to take credit for an assistance program during the coronavirus quarantine that delivered groceries to people in need. The grocery chain mentioned, @franprix, then replies to the official explaining that the local government had nothing to do with the program and grocery stores acted independently to establish it. The user, @MBellec, then captions the entire exchange "C'est ici qu'on récolte la moitié du sel français" presumably in reference to the sassy response of @franprix.^[4]

Various Examples

External References