Back in the days of New France, average families had very little furniture in their houses; the furniture they did have was simple. A chair was often nothing more than part of a tree trunk cut down to size — une bûche.
Can you see how the following expression entered the French language?
Tire-toi une bûche!
Pull up a seat!
Even today, the expression tire-toi une bûche is sometimes used in a lighthearted way to tell people to sit down.
[This entry was inspired by the character Louise in Penthouse 5-0, “Revenir de loin,” season 1, episode 3. Radio-Canada, Montreal, 24 January 2011. Here, Louise used this expression to tell a character who had just asked a question to pull up a seat. Why? Because the answer was going to be a very long one…]
I recall that “Tire-toi une bûche” is also the title of an CD by Mes Aïeux. Now I know what they meant by that.