Why are we named frogs? most french people dislike eating frogs!?

Question

frogs legs have not taste unless you put lot of garlic, I only tried once

Answer 1

For as long as there have been nations, people have been dreaming up ways to insult the nations to which they do not belong. And it's not a coincidence that the three examples your father-in-law mentioned all focus on the culinary tastes of the nation to be insulted. As Hugh Rawson observes in his excellent book "Wicked Words" (Crown, 1989), "You are -- to your enemies especially -- what you eat."

"Frog" was indeed at one time a popular derogatory term for a French person, though it didn't start out quite that way. Originally (around 1330), "frog" was applied by Britons to almost any group they found objectionable, and was aimed at both Jesuits and the Dutch before it was decided in the late 18th century that the French, with whom England was then at war, were the real "frogs." The rationale for the term, to the extent one is ever really needed in such cases, was the French consumption of frogs' legs (anathema to the beef-loving British), as well as the presence of frogs on the coat of arms of the city of Paris. "Frog" is still used as an insult, especially in Britain, but many other once-popular anti-French coinages are rarely heard today, including "French pox" (syphilis), "French leave" (desertion from one's post in wartime), and simply "French" (foul language, as in the apologetic phrase "Pardon my French" offered after swearing).

Answer 2

Though no one truly knows the origin of the term "frog" when applied to the French culture, there are several possible reasons that I have come across. Hope this helps clarify things a bit.

1. The French fondness for eating frogs. File this one under "you are what you eat." The only problem is that although frogs are sometimes eaten in France, the French are hardly unique in this respect. The frog, says the Oxford Companion to Food, "is perceived by the English as a staple of the French diet, [and] is indeed eaten in France but also in many other parts of the world, whether previously under French influence...or not." The book goes on to describe frogs as having "a delicate flavor...customarily said to resemble chicken meat." (I agree. The real problem is that there isn't much meat on the leg-bones.) For what it's worth, France outlawed commercial frog farming in 1977.

2. Frogs were a symbol of French royalty. This one apparently has its roots among early Frankish kings, such as Clovis I. But that seems too archaic for a slang word that's alive and well today. Clovis I lived about 15 centuries ago.

3. The fleur-de-lys is a stylized frog. This would be an interesting idea if one of France's best-known symbols weren't actually based on an iris flower with three petals. One legend traces its origins to our friend Clovis I. Its roots definitely go back at least as far as Louis VI, who used the fleur-de-lys as a seal and on his coins some 900 years ago. Punsters sometimes talk of the fleur-de-Louis. Maybe someone should invent a frog-de-lys.

4. A non-Parisian putdown for Paris. Marshes apparently once ringed the French metropolis, and so the sneering aristocrats of Versailles applied the word to city slickers.

5. A Paris putdown for non-Parisians. Sophisticated urbanites sneered at the rural taste for amphibians (see #1, above), and attached the term to everybody but themselves, which is to say the bulk of the national population.

Regardless of the origin of a cultural label, I still find it derrogatory on any level.

If you want further "theories" you can check out this link: http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/frenchfrogs.html

Answer 3

Like most racist slurs, it is based on the half truth of frogs legs being a french dish, and the fact that this causes the most annoyance with the aggrieved people (ie French hate being called Frogs, so racists do it even more).

Why are English called roat beefs when we don't eat that much roast beef, and in fact some of us never eat it at all?

Answer 4

Actually the term came into common parlance in England during the Tudor era. There was a French envoy at the court of Queen Elizabeth the 1rst who excelled at jumping in courtly dances such as the Volte and the Gaillard. The queen was very fond of dance and often picked him as a dancing partner, calling him "My little frog". The English courtiers who were jealous of the fact he was a favourite of the queen adopted the nickname for him in a deprecatory way and then the term spread to other French men whom they did not like.

(La voix de la derniere heure est souvent la plus sage et la mieux informee...)

Answer 5

Why do French human beings call English human beings 'Les Tete Carres? I probable did not spell that properly, or maybe get the asserting ideal, yet i think of you be responsive to what I mean. with the help of how, I spent 4 years in la Belle Province and on no account observed all human beings consume frog legs. I on no account even met all people who likes them. with the help of the comparable token, I on no account observed an English guy or woman with a sq. head, the two.

Answer 6

It's an English joke. It's Irony. It is assumed that if one Frenchman eats one frog then all Frenchmen eat frogs. It is the well documented 'Shag One Sheep' syndrome. Because you shag one sheep therefore you are a sheepshagger. Us Scots have carried this label for so long and it is Sooooo unfair.

Answer 7

I thought "frogs legs" is a French gastronomic dish.

Answer 8

Its somthing to do with your habit for eating frogs legs.

Answer 9

I don't know... maybe because they both begin with 'f' and french people eat frogs :]]

Answer 10

It's just that the French DO eat them and we don't.
I was in a Chinese buffet restaurant the other day near Bordeaux and they served them in batter!!!