I had an interesting experience at a checkout counter last week. I stopped by a convenience store on my way to work to get a bag of what in the United States is called trail mix and what in France … Read More
Many years ago, back in the United States, I had a housemate who would make what he called “pizza” by arranging slices of white bread on a baking sheet, pouring ketchup over them and topping it with hot dog slices … Read More
Despite the fact that it has given me prodigious quantities of material for C’est Ironique (see last week’s article), I lament the ever-increasingly popular use of English words in French. When an adopted term fills a gap in the borrowing … Read More
It is an established historical fact that French people like English trade names. By which I mean established by me in the history of C’est Ironique (I’ve written so many articles based on inadvertently funny or ill-advised English shop signs … Read More
Like many countries these days, France requires all food products to be marked with a sell-by date. And like all sell-by dates, in the mind of the consumer they imply (but don’t actually mean) that the food will instantly turn … Read More
Who says Parisians are inconsiderate? Just look at the decorative potted tree pictured above, seen in Passage des Panoramas. Now look at a closeup of the little sign on it: Perhaps inspired by René Magritte’s famous painting “La Trahison des … Read More
As a follow-up to my previous article, in which a fake-news-but-still-somehow-illegally-leaked (go figure) e-mail from Donald Trump indicates that he is “walking back,” as they say in Washington, his statement that “Paris is no longer Paris,” I address this open … Read More
Following a meeting with a Russian lawyer (at least the dating site pop-up ad that I clicked on said she was a lawyer), I have come into possession of a transcript of some high-level White House e-mails. Among them was … Read More
When I was a little kid, like lots of boys in the United States, I had dreams of acquiring top-level skills in the sport that I most often saw people playing: baseball. Presumably, if I had been born in France, … Read More
They are designed by the top experts in the field. After production, they are kept in an undisclosed storage facility, guarded as closely as the national gold reserves. When the big day approaches, they are shipped in double-sealed containers … Read More
