Sunday
(1)France has been attacked by an infestation of frogs! I know, the metaphors are even now exploding inside your head.
A campaign in France to exterminate frogs may sound like the beginning of a civil war, but these are no ordinary frogs.
The frogs are big, inedible, and Californian!
Since the frogs were first released, as a joke, on a private pond near Libourne in 1968, they have colonised ponds, lakes, marshes and gravel pits all over the département of the Gironde. They have been found in the Landes area to the south and in the Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne and Loir-et-Cher départements, further north.
Some joke.
It turns out that the only way to kill these fearsome and deeply un-French frogs is to shoot them.
Well, it's interesting to read of froggies taking a country successfully.
Posted by Verity at August 21, 2005 09:48 PM
If my memory of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series is correct, I believe they called the French "Crapauds", which apparently means "Frog". I'm just not sure which side in this fight we address the term to.
One is a slimy-skinned creature that croaks hoarsely and dwells with the pondscum, while the other is a small amphibian.
Posted by James at August 21, 2005 10:03 PM
Californian? Too bad they are not Texan - it would have made the joke perfect.
Posted by Alisa at August 21, 2005 10:12 PM
Alisa - On the other hand, California is governed by Arnold Schwartzenegger - an Austrian ...
Posted by Verity at August 21, 2005 10:33 PM
Brings to mind Mark Twain's story about these critters in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" as related to him by a miner? from the California goldrush of 1849.
http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/price/frog.htm(Link)
Posted by Midwesterner at August 22, 2005 01:14 AM
Alisa, if it had come from Texas it would probably have looked like this -
http://www.shgresources.com/tx/symbols/reptile/(Link)
Posted by Midwesterner at August 22, 2005 02:03 AM
James,
Crapaud means "toad". "Frog" comes from (intentional, probably) misinterpretation of the fleur-de-lys (lily) emblem of France. So "crapaud", as a deliberate coarsening of "frog", is an insult piled on an insult.
Posted by guy herbert at August 22, 2005 06:24 AM
an insult piled on an insult.
Nobody is more qualified to recognize this kind of insult than a Frenchman.
Posted by Arty at August 22, 2005 12:22 PM
Aw, come on! They know we call them froggies and they don't really mind (that much), but calling them crapaud was a clumsy stretch with no basis in fact, which meant the "joke" was not just unfunny, but unpleasant .
The frogs deserve better insults than this!
Posted by Verity at August 22, 2005 01:52 PM
Being 'invaded' by your national dish must be bit odd. Imagine hearing "Scotland suffering from worst whiskey downpour in 50 years" or "Edam hailstorm hits Holland". I do love this bit though,
... The Gironde fisheries protection association attacked a pond full of bullfrogs with electricity a few years ago. The frogs fought back. The hunters battled with them for two hours. They killed just one frog before they gave up.
So now they are back with silencers, nightsights and rifles - no doubt the California frogs are now on the radio to Arnie, requesting airsupport on their position.
Posted by Julian Taylor at August 22, 2005 02:43 PM
Julian - Now that was funny! Being invaded by your national dish. Scots suffer worst whisky downpour ...
Posted by Verity at August 22, 2005 03:01 PM
Neo-con American frogs attacking the French. How lovely.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at August 22, 2005 04:27 PM
Some jokes get stale over time but this one just seems to get funnier, considering it's almost a 40 years old. It's also seems to be going the same route as the Astralians with the cane toad. The French can'tlick them either.
I really don't understand the shooting with silencers though. Why don't they just gig them?
Posted by Charles at August 22, 2005 05:04 PM
What ever happen to that famous fwench cuisine? Some garlic, butter, wine and chopped shallots might make the frogs edible.
Posted by Ripama at August 22, 2005 05:50 PM
Uh ... because the article notes that the frogs are inedible? Why do you spell French Fwench?
Posted by Verity at August 22, 2005 05:59 PM
Proves France is still run by Jacobins: they always had it in for the Girondists.
Posted by Philip Chaston at August 22, 2005 08:16 PM
There's a funny little movie from years ago called "Cannery Row", based on some stories by John Steinbeck. It's narrated in several places by John Houston, and there's a frog hunt that is very nicely done. Rent it sometime when there's nothing else to do, and you want a few laughs with a friend and a glass of wine.
Posted by veryretired at August 22, 2005 09:41 PM
Why do I feel the urge, as an Englishman, to be rooting for the frogs (the Californian ones) in this matter?
Posted by Julian Taylor at August 23, 2005 09:01 PM
Maybe they just need some snapping turtles. I hesitate to suggest it, though; if they find bullfrogs daunting, they won't like their reptilian predators much better. They only safe way to hold them is by the tail, as their long, snake-like necks permit them to reach and bite a hand holding them any other way.
When some of them started eating our ducks, my dad put two .22 cal. holes in the head of one without slowing its advance; he finally hacked its head off with an axe, a method I adopted myself & can recommend as efficacious. Replacement turtles showed up the next year.
Posted by Mitch at August 23, 2005 09:54 PM
Gosh, Mitch, you and your dad sound like so much fun. You did realise, did you not, that these frogs are not bullfrogs? Or toads? And that this post is about France?
Posted by Verity at August 24, 2005 04:17 AM
