Punning in French

For several months, we had been planning Maëva's 4th birthday barbecue for the afternoon/evening of Saturday the 25th. But then we found out that Le Provençal, the annual jeu provençal boules tournament in Marseille that Sylvain likes to play in, has been advanced a day this year. It will be starting on Saturday the 25th rather than Sunday the 26th due to a marathon that is taking place in Marseille on Sunday. Yikes. Sylvain already had to miss the tournament in 2011 because Maëva was born the morning it began. He was not about to have her make him miss it again. So, we decided to move Maëva's party up a day to her actual birthday. Yesterday, while I was thinking about what to say in a text message to everyone about the date change, I came up with a great idea: a jeu de mots, a pun in French! There's a French expression avoir les boules which means to be fed up. So I began my message with "Maëva a les boules! Le Provençal étant avancé d'un jour cette année, on doit également avancé sa fête d'anniversaire d'un jour." Sylvain thought my pun was a bit silly. But then, he doesn't have the Tromble family appreciation for the finesse of the art form. I was pleased when two friends responded positively to my efforts by congratulating me on my pun.