What`s in a name?

 

  Here`s a little quiz for you to ponder..What do the French towns of Pissotte, Arsy,  Ars-en-Ré and Germ have in common?  Give up?  Well, they are all town names that have evoked a snigger from our daughter Alyson, together with an absolute prohibition of our moving to any one of them. It must be admitted that Al has a sense of humour a little `low` but it must also be admitted that the French have a perverse genius for giving their towns and villages ridiculous or even rude names.
  Last night I had a look through the index of our Michelin and found an absolute plethora of rude or ridiculous names.Apart from the above examples, I found Silly (a town of idiots?), Chilly (bit nippy?) Bossey (a long argument before the Maire imposed his choice?) Miséré ( a happy town, not) Messy (tidy little place) Brain (town of know-alls) Corny (load of comics) Hinges ( swingers?) and Douzy (an Americanism?). A town which is a little liable to flood must be Dampvalley Les Coulombes, `les Canards` would have been more appropriate. There are also some names which must be ridiculous even to the French, like Hérisson (hedgehog) and Longcochon perhaps named by an explorer returned from the Pacific. However my personal favorites are Largeasse (to be avoided by anglophones with a weight problem and the rude and improbable Pissy-Poville (the O having a `roof` accent over it which I can`t reproduce on my English keyboard). Any comment I might dare to make on this last would incur the wrath of Mrs Noah.
  I wonder if house values are lower in these villes?  Certainly I would have though twice about buying there, although our own rather sad name of La Mort Limouzin did not deter us. Does any reader have any other favorite candidates?

Bye for now, coffee time!