I'm just back from visiting a friend in a nearby village named Château. So where is the château in Château, you may ask? Answer: there isn't one. Well there was one, oh maybe a couple of hundred years ago. But the name remains the same.
The naming of French villages is a curious thing. I got to thinking about it the other day, when we passed through Poisson, which means 'fish' in French. Is there a story there? Must be. Imagine telling someone you live in Fish.
One of our favorite local restaurants is in Bourgvillain. Translation: "Ugly village". In fact it is neither ugly, nor a village, exactly; more of a pretty hamlet. I asked the proprietor of the restaurant what the story was. "Well, the nearby château was pretty, and the village grew up around it and was not as pretty, so they named it Bourgvillain." Whatever.
Then there are many villages with names which are vulgaire. The French seem to love them.
Did you know that these quirky French village names are so common that the mayors of said villages got together and formed an association? Which is called, in typical grand French fashion: Association des Communes de France aux Noms Burlesque et Chantants: dont le nom évocateur prête à sourire, à rire ou dont la musicalité est porteuse de pittoresque et de folklore. (Association of Communes of France with names that are Burlesque or Musical: the name must evoke a smile or a laugh, or be musical in a picturesque or folklorish manner).
Then, in our commune, there is the village of La Vineuse, or "wine-ish", which colloquially means "wine breath". Perfect fit for our household!
Here are some more villages that have "picturesque" names that are insolite (unusual):
Coubisous, Aveyron, means a kiss on the neck
Corps-Nuds, Brittany. Pronounced like corps nus (naked bodies). Apparently it's trendy to take selfies by the sign, in the buff.
Monteton, "my nipple, or more correctly, "my tit", in the Lot and Garonne. You know this sign must get stolen often.
Folles, Haut-Vienne. Translation: I live in Crazytown!
St. Barbant, Haute-Vienne: barbant means boring. Never heard of that saint.
Vinsobres, a wine village in the Rhone, a charming place. It's a well-known wine village, and the name means "Sober wine".
Poil, in Brittany: fur on an amimal, or the hair that covers human body parts. A poil means naked.
Condom, in the Gers. Well this one, which gets a lot of attention, is self-explanatory. They don't use this word in French (it's préservatif, here), but they're well aware, and proud, of it's meaning.
Anus, in the Yonne
La Baffe, in the Yosges, means a slap
Bourré, Loir-et-Cher, means drunk
..And finally, a name that clearly evokes the US president's deplorable behavior: Pussy, in the Savoie.
A housekeeping note: For anyone who got an email reminder for the last post, then another one later, mes excuses. I have no idea what happened, my blog seemed to go rogue on me. We'll see if it happens this time, hope not.
In the COMMENTS: For you francophones, Ralphe has a lovely story to tell about his cat Chocolat. Alix has a “gaggle" of cats in her neighborhood. Suzanne we will all say a prayer for your kitty, and yes I aspire to be a cat lady too (nixed by Ron). Vicky, please hang in there with that chat sauvage. Tom, good luck with the trip, I think you will need it. Christine, love love the story of the hypothetical cats! Paula has brought up a hotly debated topic in the cat world. I am of two minds myself. For a good discussion of the topic, I refer everyone to The Lion in Your Living Room. Which is a wonderfully interesting and well researched book for anyone to read, about how cats domesticated us, and took over the world, the internet, and maybe your household.
