👉 Okay, settle in closely, letâs talk about something delightfully⊠stuffy and rather pointy. Behold!à°Ąà±â
"Aids-de-Champ!"
(You gotta roll that one around your brain a little, right?)
Basically, an "aids-de-champ," which is the full, somewhat ridiculous title, translates roughly to a gentleman attendant or personal aide within certain military and governmental organisations. Historically, they were practically glorified errand boys for high-ranking officers - carrying commissions, organising spectacles of deference, generally being exceedingly polite whilst occasionally handling whatever minor inconvenience the general was presently displeased by. Think very well-dressed, very stuffy, and probably wearing a ridiculously tall beaver pelt somewhere.
Now, hereâs what makes it funny: the title itself is just...a mouthful! You absolutely
need
to announce your arrival as an "aide-de-champ," because if you simply said, you were an aide, that just wouldn't cut it. You have a certain gravitas to establish. There are many layers of bureaucracy in the title and a whole lot of posturing with it.
The original French meaning,
aide-chéance
, was actually quite frankly, rather unpleasant, referring to an "aider who helps when things go badly." The shift to aide-de-champ as this gentleman attendant is a little more noble than that.
âAids-de-Champ?!â
. You get the