OT: French and Frogs

"Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman" wrote

Search "frog +french +origin"

"For as long as there have been nations, people have been dreaming up ways to insult the nations to which they do not belong. And it's not a coincidence that the three examples your father-in-law mentioned all focus on the culinary tastes of the nation to be insulted. As Hugh Rawson observes in his excellent book "Wicked Words" (Crown, 1989), "You are -- to your enemies especially -- what you eat." "Frog" was indeed at one time a popular derogatory term for a French person, though it didn't start out quite that way. Originally (around 1330), "frog" was applied by Britons to almost any group they found objectionable, and was aimed at both Jesuits and the Dutch before it was decided in the late 18th century that the French, with whom England was then at war, were the real "frogs." The rationale for the term, to the extent one is ever really needed in such cases, was the French consumption of frogs' legs (anathema to the beef-loving British), as well as the presence of frogs on the coat of arms of the city of Paris. "Frog" is still used as an insult, especially in Britain, but many other once-popular anti-French coinages are rarely heard today, including "French pox" (syphilis), "French leave" (desertion from one's post in wartime), and simply "French" (foul language, as in the apologetic phrase "Pardon my French" offered after swearing)."

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:xpDmufuEpmAJ:

KL

And in return, the French call us Brits "rosbif" (roast beef) :-)

And to mess up history, I'd like to say they call us "mad cows" after Thatcher! ;-)

Richard.

In fact I think each country has bad nickname for a lot of others... Stupid thing indeed...

so where did chippies come from?

but entirely expectable

I believe it relates to the French penchant for Frogs Legs,

Their term for us Brits is "Rost-beef" or something similar- as we all like a Sunday roast!

With the Germans termed "krauts" (Saur-kraut?)it seems that racist slurs in Europe are primarily food based.

regards

Troffa.

The poor cows don't deserve that.

A number of years ago, I was on an Exercise Ample Gain at Fassberg airbase. Ample Gain involved squadrons from many NATO air forces meeting to "learn each other's operating techniques", but basically they were excuses for a huge booze up. One rather drunken night a multi-national group got to discussing these nicknames. It seems that the nicknames are mainly between the Brits, French and Germans. Brits called the French "frogs" and the Germans "boxheads" (at least we did in the RAF). In turn the French called us "rosbif" and the Germans called us "insel affen" (island monkeys). The French still call the Germans "Boche".

Oddly enough, almost everyone else was quite put out that they didn't have any racial nicknames (apart from the the obvious "Yank", "Canuck" and "Eyetie" etc). However the Dutch contingent were very pleased that the Brits called them "Cloggies"!

After that night it was *very* difficult to tell us all apart as there had been so much swapping of uniform. I managed to trade a complete RAF Number 1 uniform for a back-seat trip in an F-16! :-D

Woodyards ?

A chippie can be a woodworker or a man who 'chips' potatoes in a chip shop hence 'chippie'.

Richard.

And they burned the wrong victims!

Richard.

chiipies are also women of easy virtue, here.

Up to this point I was going to suggest 'chipmunks' as in small furry animals that chatter incessantly. I don't know if they're promiscuous too.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Hi

I am a french citizen married to a US citizen, have been here in the states for 13 years and have never heard anybody call me a frog! They call me "Oui oui" often for "yes yes". The only place I have heard of the frog expression is where brits/australians are involved as this newsgroup and the sport of rugby. I have sometimes answered to americans asking me where I come from, that I was a "frog" and their answer was "A what? What do you mean?". It is not used from NYC to Atlanta where I have lived at least in my experience. In France we indeed call brits "Rost-beef" and Germans "Teutons", "Bosch" or "Schleu" and I don't know why. The belgians are "Les frites" for "the fries", americans are "Yankees", italians "Rital" which is slang for italian, russians are "Ruscoff" and arabs I won't print here as it's really bad, it's a fruit actually.

All right back to finish my M551 sheridan.

Patrick (Now what I get often here in the states is "Why is your first name Patrick, you are french not irish. Ho well too many "Pierre" already I answer.;-)

"varois83" wrote

What's the literal translation of Boche and Schleu?

KL

Kurt

It does not mean anything to me in literal french, it must have an explanation probably related to WWII I would guess.

Patrick

Here in eastern Canada, Frog has long been a name for the French. I can recall knowing about it at least 40 years ago when I was in high school.

Being of French decent but having English as my first language (French is second), I used to have fun with my French friends, calling them "stupid frogs". At first they'd start to get mad, but when they realised I was the one saying it, they'd laugh. I'd say that I was a "smart frog"!

Bilingual Bob Boudreau With a traced ancestry to Michel Boudrot who arrived in Canada (New France) from France in 1641.

Okay, another term. Why did folks speak of Germans as Jerries, and why was the can called a Jerry can?

Well the jerry can was better than ours or the yanks.