Does anyone know when froggie was first used to refer to a French person?

Question

Also, why? This is urgent, so I'd appreciate any help by Thursday night.

Finally, no French-bashing or French jokes. I am a Francophile and have tired of all the bashing. Merci.

Answer 1

This all started in 1148 when beloved Princess Guinovere XI, daughter of the great Charles Ferdinand IV, began kissing frogs in her palace pond - in hopes that one of them would turn into a dashing, handsome French prince. After kissing what seemed like thousands of them -- one night, her prince appeared.

This was the nickname she gave him: "Froggie."

After the french revolution, when Royalty were no longer recognized by the proletariat masses... it seemed the prince known as Froggie was demoted from Prince to commoner. At which time, most people who used to address him as "Prince" now just called him froggie. His close friends, however, still called him "F-dawg", or "Masta F"

Well..you can paint the picture for yourself. A year after the revolution, Guinovere dumped him... as the historian Talmash recounts in his masterful essay entitled "The Real France," an episode where Guinovere tossed out Froggy's clothes from the castle parapet, cursing at him for not being pleasing her enough in bed.

Historians debate over her real motives for dumping him -- many accept that fact that Froggie was not good in bed-- but some have now also posited that Guinovere lost interest in him as soon as he became a commoner. Because now he was just an ordinary French person -- as the name "commoner" implies -- they were very common in France -- so common, in fact, that Guinovere believed she could get one anywhere.

And to prove this to herself -- she set out on a quest. She wanted to see how many ordinary french men she could sleep with. As Talmash recounts -- frequently, you would hear her yell the word "Froggy" out the window...

It wasn't long before every male in town had been named "Froggy." And from that town, to the next, and to the next. Every male within it was under her spell. Soon, the entire region of Champagne. And from Champagne to Normandy. Finally---all men in France were known as "Froggy."

This is actually how the word originated.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you are trying to ask because the way you have worded your question is a bit confusing. Any high school English teacher would rake you over the coals for such an unintelligible question. Still, I shall try to help. I think you want to know if all white people should be called white no matter where they are from. There ARE black Italians, black French and black Irish. These last ones are actually black people who are citizens of Ireland and have nothing to do with the bizarre American term "Black Irish." So if a Chinese citizen is white ( I have actually met several such people) then that person can be referred to as white.

Answer 3

1I wondered about the origin of this slur, and thought it have derive from the French delicacy, frog legs, at which many English-speakers look askance. But it turns out there are many other possibilities: the fleur de lis is thought to resemble a frog, and may actually once have represented a frog. The French during World War II were said to resemble frogs when fully camouflaged and in hiding. The early French king Clovis had a frog as his emblem. The French used to refer to Parisians disparagingly as "grenouilles" (frogs) because the city was swampy, and the term gradually expanded to refer to all French people. Queen Elizabeth I used to affectionately call her French ambassador lover "frog". Pushkin thought "Quoi? Quoi?" ("What? What?") sounded like a frog's croak. All plausible sounding to me.

COPIED FROM:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=frog

Lance's contribution was copied and pasted from:

http://gyral.blackshell.com/names.html

Please give credit to your sources, Lance.

EDIT: Hats off to Luckylavs, who's answer seems to be completely original...

Answer 4

The French are said to laugh like frogs. When they laugh, their adam's apples bulge out of their necks like frogs. Also perhaps from the French delicacy of frog-legs. Another possible derivation is the Fleur-de-Lys displayed on the French king's banner in the Middle Ages, which, to the English enemy, looked like squatting frogs. UK origins.

Answer 5

It relates to the Meal of Frogs Legs, which the French are famous for. though the dish is served and popular with other cultures

My dictionary says the derogatory term "frog" was used from the late 18th century

Answer 6

When French people started saying ribbit.

Answer 7

umm i'm not sure when, but as for the why, i'd say maybe because one of their stereotypes is eating frogs legs. just a guess.

Answer 8

Good history answer here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_498_158/ai_106652581