Ugly? Repulsive?

Posted by Kermit on March 28, 2003

In Reply to: We'll always have Paris posted by Bogart on March 28, 2003

: : : : : Just wondering. Apperently 'cheese-eating surrender monkey' is from the Simpsons.

: : : : Dict. of Amer. Slang says "Probably from 'frog-eater.'" I'm guessing that alliteration helped.

: : : FROG - "a Frenchman, was common in England by 1870 but became well known in the U.S. only during World War I. It is probably from the French relishing frogs as a delicacy, reinforced by the toads on the coat of arms of the city of Paris." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).

: : The French are called "frogs", at least by us in England, because we're too well-mannered to say what we *really* think.

: Fr as in Fr-ench
: Fr-ogs as in an ugly and repulsive creature.

: Plus the French have a history of eating frogs - so frog-eaters, froggies, frogs.

Beauty is as beauty does. A plague on both your houses.