David Jaggard
The French Can-Can-Do Attitude: An Iffy History of a Once-Disreputable Dance
An Immorally Uplifting Experience...
If you say the word “France” to people, they immediately think of looking up women’s skirts. And there’s a perfectly good, logical reason for this: the people you happened to pick are all testosterone-addled straight guys, who never think about … Read More
The Long Gear-Grinding Road: Getting a Driver’s License in France, Part One
No Wonder They Drive Like That!
As anyone who knows me will confirm, probably without being asked, I am something of a neurotic. I tend to be nervous in many situations, like speaking in public. Or in private. Or in my sleep. Or driving. I am … Read More
A Slice of Death: Chasing the Shadow of the Guillotine
The Allure of the Lore of Gore
A few weeks ago I was walking by the Place de la Concorde and happened to notice a young couple who seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the pedestrian areas of the square, pointing and staring in every direction with … Read More
Down and Dirty: A Not-very-close Look at French Toilets
How Low Can You Go?
Sometimes people from my old home state in the Midwest ask me why I want to live in France. Sometimes it’s a real question and sometimes it isn’t. There are two possibilities: 1. If the speaker is merely trying to … Read More
Fashion in Paris: Everything I Know About Style in Nine Easy Lessons
It’s Not Even Skin Deep!
Paris Fashion Week just ended, so naturally I’ve been thinking about the early-20th-century French philosopher Paul Valéry. Valéry coined a term, les professions délirantes (the “delirious professions”), to designate disciplines that have no clear objective criteria of achievement. For example, … Read More
The World Cup and Me, Part One: How Soccer Came to America – Sort Of
When Ignorance Was Bliss (A True Story)
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Paris Update on June 8, 2014. As I write this, the 2014 FIFA World Cup is about to begin in Brazil. This quadrennial tournament always brings back a fond childhood memory for me. Not … Read More
Travel in France: How to Beat the “Gîtes” System
The Key to the Heart of France
A note from David Jaggard: France is emerging from confinement and we are free to travel again. For those who share my love of the French countryside, this article, originally posted on June 24, 2015, contains some actual useful information. … Read More
Dining in Paris: French Restaurant Manners and Methodology
Abandon All Dread* Ye Who Enter Here
A note from David Jaggard: France is now in its sixth week of confinement. All eyes are on the research community as the population awaits news of the one scientific breakthrough that we’ve all been hoping, longing and praying for: the … Read More
Weird English Shop Signs, Part 17: All-Parisian Edition
This Is Not Just Any Boutique
A note from David Jaggard: As France and much of the world endures a lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus, I’m sure that many Paris Update readers are, like me, thinking back to a happier, more carefree time. … Read More
French Wine Tasting: How to Be (or Sound Like) a Wine Expert (or Snob)
Lesson 1: Left, Good. Right, Bad.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Paris Update on February 8, 2017. For my most recent birthday, a friend gave me a bottle of a Pauillac grand cru classé from 1986. If you don’t have a friend like that, … Read More