Evan tweeted about a photo this morning of a poster of a breastfeeding French mother from maybe the last of the 1800s or the first bit of the 1900s. It's the one up there to the left. It got me speculating about the actual message being conveyed. We have all seen these sorts of beer for health posters pre-dating your own regional temperance movement. But this one is odd and not just because of the half-exposed ladies. The lass to the right has a glass, too. Evan suggested it might be a malt extract sort of thing while I wondered if it was some sort of message about not making beer at home. After all, the message was that the bad mom, well, "elle fabrique sa boisson elle-même" - imagine!!
Then, duh, I realized what I think may be going on. It is her own milk she is failing to produce without the beneficent glass of beer that is literally just within reach. Note that in the picture to the left that it is not that the good mother drinks beer. It is that she buys it at the brasserie, a word that can mean both "brewery" and "beer cafe" - the latter as opposed to a bistro.
The message is clearer in the variant to the right. "That [lassie] drinks it" as opposed to "that [lassie] does not drink it"... even though it is right there on the table. Or just down the street at the brasserie. Get a growler, mom. Jeesh. Is that it?