C’est Ironique Sign of the Weeque
Spotted by reader Daniela Bak
Thanks to the widespread success and even widerspread renown of a certain American women’s wear retailer known for its titillating (and some would say asinine) catalogs, the English word “secret” has come to mean “lingerie” in French. The shop shown here, whose name evokes the French expression jardin secret (literally “secret garden”; figuratively, “whatever the hell you want to imagine that it might mean”), raises the bar on English abuse by sprinkling apostrophes around like royal heads under the guillotine.
It reminds me of what is perhaps my most favorite ever violation of English usage and common sense: There used to be a self-styled “Irish pub” here in Paris called the James Joyce, whose magazine ads invariably gave the name as (brace yourself): “Jame’s Joyce.” A’s though every s’ingle ’s’ ha’s to be s’eparated from s’ubs’equent or previou’s letter’s by it’s own apos’trophe.
Have you seen a ridiculous sign in Paris? Or anywhere in France? Send me a photo in care of contact@paris-update.com
FavoriteAn album of David Jaggard’s comic compositions is now available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music, for purchase (whole or track by track) on iTunes and Amazon, and on every other music downloading service in the known universe, under the title “Totally Unrelated.”
Note to readers: David Jaggard’s e-book Quorum of One: Satire 1998-2011 is available from Amazon as well as iTunes, iBookstore, Nook, Reader Store, Kobo, Copia and many other distributors.