Prior to my trip to Normandy next month I have been doing some Google research about the area I shall be visiting. What puzzles me is that Google insists in translating " Bocage " ( the typical landscape of that part of Normandy ) as " scrap iron ". According to my Larouse French/English dictionary "scrap iron "should come out as “ferraille” and " Bocage " just translates as “Bocage”. Could any French speaker throw some light on this strange translation . It does give some strange results with the town of le Beny-Bocage coming out as le Beny-Scrap Iron !.
From Collins French Dictionary:
bocage (nm) farmland criss-crossed by hedges and trees; grove, copse.
I’ve never heard bocage used with another meaning than “bocage”. Just in case, I checked my dictionnary, and the only other meaning is “little shady wood”. I can’t think of any word, even remotely related to “bocage” which could have anything to do with scrap iron, either. So, I would assume that google is totally off base.
There is Beaucage, which is the name of a very successful chain of car repair places in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The guy does work for most of the major dealerships in the area (I know his company is set up at Nissan, GM and Chevrolet). Maybe Google is confused… 