The Frogs

Thanks to my sister-in-law Denise, I now have the answer to one question that has plagued me for years. SHE knows why the French are called Frogs! I thought I'd pass the answer on to the rest of you, just in case you've been losing sleep over this question too.

"Frog" for the French comes from the stereotype that French people eat frogs legs, a comestible that the English find repellent. I recall from somewhere that it started around the Napoleonic era - not that the English suddenly disliked the French then, but a paranoia developed about republicans slaughtering the rich and the educated. The French Republic was, to many people, as bad as the aristo regime it replaced and certainly something that the vested interests feared. With France a mere swim away, anti-French feeling was high - it was anti-'republican french' at heart, but the republican bit got rather lost. picking on minor differences, such as the garlic and frogs legs was all part of the war-time propaganda.'frogs' and 'froggies' were intended as insults - implying that the French for all their pretensions were silly people who did not know civilised food.

Thank you Denise. Very much.