The clear highlight of my last visit to the Auvergne was the church of St-Blaise/Notre-Dame-des-Malades in Vichy. Vichy was for centuries France’s prime spa centre with sulphurous and mineral waters which are still prescribed – to be drunk or to be bathed in – for many maladies. Indeed, it was the town’s number of hotels […]
What do you call someone from..
We all know Londoner, Parisian and New Yorker. But what are the names for the citizens of other cities and states? Or, as we call them, demonyms? Easy to make up one by adding -er or -ian (or -ois in French) to the name. But I’ve been long interested in the more obscure appellations and […]
Franglais or Just English?
I can still remember the time, when, even in Paris, a simple ‘Parlez-vous anglais?’ would be met with the annoyance hat-trick of raising the eyebrows, pursing the mouth and looking up at the sky with an expression of distaste for the foreigner who comes to France not speaking Dieu‘s own langue. How times have changed. […]