Not to get overly carried away with Martin Brodeur’s NHL-record 552nd goaltending win last night, but during the game broadcast, a newspaper headline flashed onscreen, and I liked it:

LE NOUVEAU ROY

I know only enough French to get my face slapped, but I could translate this phrase easily enough: THE NEW KING.

But that’s only the surface meaning. The double-entendre, in good sports-journalist tradition, had to do with who’s career-wins total Brodeur bettered: Patrick Roy’s. So the compact pun: Brodeur is not only the new record-book king, but also, in a sense, the new Roy. Only works in French, and that language-specificity makes it that much cooler.

Wish I could confirm which Quebecois newspaper that was. The only online trace I could find was this re-use by Fanatique.ca; it’ll have to do.

Bonus blog-reader points to anyone who can translate my all-Gallic title for this post