In the course of scouring the streets of Paris looking for material that qualifies as Ironique (see inadvertently funny shop signs Part I and Part II), I sometimes come across something that makes me say to myself, “Gee, it’d be … Read More
Paris, February 2012: Scandal rocks the sports world in France! While semanticists are busy trying to figure out how an entire world can be contained within a single country, detectives are busy trying to figure out why Patrice Ciprelli, the … Read More
The time has come. The time to address an issue that has vexed and perplexed me ever since I moved to Paris nearly 30 years ago. Finally, I have promised myself that I would summon the courage to face the … Read More
I don’t follow politics as closely as I should, either in France or in the United States. The main reason for this is that I am a civically irresponsible sludgebag. A secondary and much nicer-sounding reason is that I am … Read More
France. Grown men kissing other men. What’s up with that? This, or words to that effect, was what I said to myself as a child back in the Midwest when I first became aware of the French practice of cheek … Read More
French familiar formal When you study French in school, there are some things that the teachers and textbooks don’t tell you. For example, slang expressions, swear words and effective pickup lines are all beyond the scope of the syllabus. So … Read More
Because the climate here is so temperate, thanks to the Gulf Stream, we North Americans tend to forget just how far north Paris is. The entire landmass of the contiguous United States lies further south on the globe than Paris. … Read More
The end of an old year, the start of a new one… It’s a time for looking back. And a time for looking forward. So, purely in the interest of efficiency, I have decided to do both at once, by … Read More
In Paris, nothing says “Christmas” like pointless products on sale in an ersatz Tyrolean chalet. Christmas in France is not much different from Christmas in the United States. Just like in the United States, people buy sawed-off evergreens to put … Read More
This “French bakery” in the Bay Area was apparently styled after the other Paris – the one in Las Vegas. I just returned from a trip to California. Although I am still a mono-national citizen of the United States, I … Read More
