French, or going to France sometime soon?
If so, I commend this rather useful map that Le Monde has knocked up, with 'pins' for summer universities and the like being held by the various French political parties.
Highlights include the infestation of Loire Atlantique by the Left - Fouras, La Rochelle andSegoville Melle all have Socialist bun fights, and Paris and thereabouts has Socialists, Communists and the Nouveau Centre, whatever that is.
Elsewhere the blameless former French capital city (1) of Quimper played host to the great unwashed in the form of Les Verts, which scored a grand total of 2.32% in the first round of the presidential election in that city, making the folk of Cornouaille a tad more naive than the national average of 1.57%.
(1). I'm not making this up. Quimper was the capital for 24 hours, before Vichy was chosen instead. I cannot lay hands on a fuller reference, but apparently the Prime Minister's mistress took umbrage at the prospect of being somewhere so 'unfashionable'. So, the fortunate Quimperois/e do not have to suffer the good name of their city being a synonym for collaboration.
Highlights include the infestation of Loire Atlantique by the Left - Fouras, La Rochelle and
Elsewhere the blameless former French capital city (1) of Quimper played host to the great unwashed in the form of Les Verts, which scored a grand total of 2.32% in the first round of the presidential election in that city, making the folk of Cornouaille a tad more naive than the national average of 1.57%.
(1). I'm not making this up. Quimper was the capital for 24 hours, before Vichy was chosen instead. I cannot lay hands on a fuller reference, but apparently the Prime Minister's mistress took umbrage at the prospect of being somewhere so 'unfashionable'. So, the fortunate Quimperois/e do not have to suffer the good name of their city being a synonym for collaboration.
Labels: Extreme Left, France, Greenery
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on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 1:40 pm.
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Quimper is lovely!
Agree - it's a delightful part of France, but I could never understand how to pronounce it! It's not Kwimper, so it must be something like Comepay? Help!!
I always used to think (many years ago when I was much younger and knew a lot less French) that Ypres was pronounced as wipers.
My best bet at rendering it phonetically would be Campair.
Vannes is really rather fine too.
I've always assumed Campair, but my English friends who live nearby called it Campay so who knows!
Mr C: Tku vm. Good job the French don't talk Welsh....
Mr C: Tku vm. Good job the French don't talk Welsh....
Apologies for the double posting - not sure how that happened!
Ed - I know genuine Bretons, including those with mother tongue Breton, and Campair is how they render it. Its name in Breton is Kemper, by the way.
N - Breton and Welsh are at least as mutually intelligible as Swedish and Danish, or Spanish and Portuguese, so in a manner of speaking, some French do speak Welsh.
Does that mean that Breton is not pronounced phonetically?
nomad - actually the proper name for Ypres is now Ieper (as that is its Flemish name which is the lingua franca there). Easy to pronounce, too.
Hmmm, ten entries and still no mention of the world cup. Now THERE is a reason to go to France if you couldn't find enough already.
To my embarrassment I have heard Les pieds noirs anglais, regularly call Villedieu Les Poeles, villydo without a trace of a blush
Guthrum - Flipping that round a bit, some of the locals in the Essex village of Theydon Bois will insist on pronouncing it 'Bwah' rather than 'Boys', to the considerable amusement of the rest of us.
Meanwhile, Ma Croydonian (so to speak) lives near a town called St Pons, pronounced 'Ponze', which a long-term Anglo resident of her village still calls, without it being a feeble attempt at 'wit', 'St Ponce'.....
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