Frogs and The French
- The French custom of eating frog legs is the source of the English use of the derogatory nickname "frogs" for French people.
- Queen Elizabeth I is known to have nicknamed the French François, Duke of Anjou, who unsuccessfully courted her in 1579, "frog" - on account of a frog-shaped earring he had given her. It is unclear whether this releates to the later English application of the nickname to all French people.
Read more about this topic: Frogs In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words frogs and/or french:
“One cannot speak of ice to summer insects nor talk about the sky to frogs in a well.”
—Chinese proverb.
“I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood.... I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am French only by this great city: the glory of France, and one of the noblest ornaments of the world.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)