Speech
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King had suggested that Churchill speak at the Château Laurier, but Churchill preferred the Canadian House of Commons, where he addressed the Canadian Parliament and Senate. [3]
The speech was filmed, [3] and broadcast nationwide, [4] and drew much interest and enthusiasm. The speech lasted for 37 minutes, [3] with much defiant and stirring oratory:
We shall never descend to the German and Japanese level, but if anybody likes to play rough we can play rough too. Hitler and his Nazi gang have sown the wind; let them reap the whirlwind... The enemies ranged against us, coalesced and combined against us, have asked for total war. Let us make sure they get it... [5]
Later came the passage with the famous phrase:
... On top of all this [disasters previously mentioned] came the great French catastrophe. The French Army collapsed, and the French nation was dashed into utter and, as it has proved, irre-- proved so far, irretrievable confusion. The French Government had, at their own suggestion, solemnly bound themselves, with us, not to make a separate peace... But their generals misled them. When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone, whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister, and his divided cabinet, in three weeks England would have her neck wrung like a chicken. [A] Some chicken! Some neck! [6] [2] [5] [B]
"Some chicken!" elicited mild laughter from the assembled dignitaries, while "Some neck!" brought forth loud peals of laughter. [6] [7] (The phrase was perhaps a form of asteism;[ original research? ] Robert and Susan Cockcroft described it as transforming, rather than rejecting, the original insult, an example of a persuasive rhetorical device they call the similarity model of argument.) [8]
Churchill, who spoke French, included a short passage in that language (at the suggestion of Mackenzie King) [4] :
Et partout dans la France occupée et inoccupée (car leur sort est égal), ces honnêtes gens, ce grand peuple, la nation française, se redresse. L’espoir se rallume dans les coeurs d’une race guerrière, même désarmée, berceau de la liberté révolutionnaire et terrible aux vainqueurs esclaves. Et partout, on voit le point du jour, et la lumière grandit, rougeâtre, mais claire. Nous ne perdrons jamais la confiance que la France jouera le rôle des hommes libres et qu’elle reprendra par des voies dures sa place dans la grande compagnie des nations libératrices et victorieuses. Ici, au Canada, où la langue française est honorée et parlée, nous nous tenons prêts et armés pour aider et pour saluer cette résurrection nationale.
which translates to
And everywhere in France, occupied and unoccupied - for their fate is identical – these honest folk, this great people, the French nation, are rising again. Hope is springing up again in the hearts of a warrior race, even though disarmed, cradle of revolutionary liberty and terrible to enslaving conquerors. And everywhere dawn is breaking and light spreading, reddish yet, but clear. We shall never lose confidence that France will play the role of free men again and, by hard paths, will once again attain her place in the great company of freedom-bringing and victorious nations. Here in Canada, where the French language is honoured and spoken, we are armed and ready to help and to hail this national resurrection." [5]
Churchill ended the speech with:
Let us then address ourselves to our task, not in any way underrating its tremendous difficulties and perils, but in good heart and sober confidence, resolved that, whatever the cost, whatever the suffering, we shall stand by one another, true and faithful comrades, and do our duty, God helping us, to the end. [3]