> Ed,
> Now you know why they refer to your people as "Frogs", it's not because of
> what type of legs they eat.
> Bill
Bill....
You've just opened the door to an interesting question.
By way of background, my father was in Europe for most of WWII and for some of
that time he was on Eisenhower's staff. In that position, he participated in
many meetings with folks from many different countries. Every nation had a
nickname: Yanks (USA), Brits (England), Nips (Japan), Crouts (Germany), Frogs
(French) and so forth. These nicknames were used extensively and everyone knew
what they meant and nobody was offended. It was just a nickname.
When my father returned from the war, his new nickname was "Frog" and that is
exactly what my mother called him (instead of "dear" or "honey") for the rest
of his life. He was simply "Frog" and we all knew what it was about.
Regarding the origination of the term "Frog", there are several possibilities.
The explanation I received as a boy was along these lines:
The French and the Frogs
For some reason, the French have been given the nickname Frogs...There are many
different theories about how this came to be...
The story I had always heard was that the nickname dates waaay back to sometime
around the 18th century, when Paris was surrounded by many swamps...The French
nobility that would visit Versailles apparently tended to refer to Parisians as
frogs because of the swampy surroundings...and only later did the term get
picked up to describe the French in general.
Another story I've heard was that American soldiers adopted the nickname for
the French during the World War II because they ate frog legs and hid well when
camouflaged.
I've also heard that a frog used to be on the French Flag, before the Fleurs de
Lis was adopted when King Clovis took the throne....
In fact, there are so many stories....I don't think anyone really knows for
sure...
And then there is this:
It goes back to Queen Elizabeth the First of England, who was extremely fond of
dancing. At the time dances involved quite a lot of leaping up. There was a
young man in the French ambassadorial staff at the court who excelled at these
leaps and the queen called him "My little frog". English courtiers were envious
and started using the term as a deprecatory term for all French men. It passed
into general use and has stayed there ever since.
"S"incerely.....Froggy Ed L.
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