# The Fleur de Lis **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518 "2022-01-27T19:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/21 "2022-01-31T02:27:05Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Don’t offer that bet in Montreal. Or St. Louis, Mo. [![](https://flagloft.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ST.-LOUIS.jpg) ](https://flagloft.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ST.-LOUIS.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/22 "2022-01-31T14:10:18Z")
I’ll only count St. Louis if over 50% of its citizens pronounce it “Sant Louee”! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/23 "2022-01-31T16:24:11Z")
No problem with “Sant” - no one in Missouri can pronounce a long A sound correctly in any case. As for “Louee” that has about the same connection to a St. Louisan as “Frisco” does to a San Franciscan. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/24 "2022-01-31T16:38:03Z")
Acceptable usage if only when preceded with “So long screwie.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/25 "2022-01-31T20:53:08Z")
The Fleur de Lis is a part of my family crest from the 17th century. So, yes I am very familiar with it and its symbolism. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/26 "2022-01-31T20:55:41Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Don’t offer that bet in Montreal. or in New Orleans [![](https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/private/t_editorial_landscape_12_desktop/saints/wuch7hdtq5udeolortmy) ](https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/private/t_editorial_landscape_12_desktop/saints/wuch7hdtq5udeolortmy) ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/27 "2022-02-01T04:50:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > [@Jim\_B](#): > > > > I’ll bet you anything you were aware of the symbol, you just didn’t know its name > > This is the Dope, not Facebook. While we are frequently ignorant here, we are ignorant at a MUCH higher level than most other websites. > > ;-%\> (me winking, rolling my tongue, and having grown a goatee which fits under my N95 mask nicely) Good one! I not only know its name, I also know that it’s used as a woman’s name in several Romance languages: Flordelis in Portuguese (in Brazil, a woman with that name has been involved in a high-profile murder case), Flordelisa in Spanish, and Fiordiligi in Italian (used for a character in Mozart’s _Cosi Fan Tutti_). And here’s a name origin I heard for it at The Cloisters in NYC years ago: “Despite appearances, the term _fleurs-de-lis_ (also spelled _fleur-de-lys_) doesn’t derive from “flower of the lily” as is commonly suggested, but is most likely the “flower of Loys,” Loys being the archaic style with which the long line of French kings named Louis signed themselves.” [https://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2010/04/26/the-garden-in-heraldry/](https://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2010/04/26/the-garden-in-heraldry/) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/28 "2022-02-01T05:04:21Z")
Is it just me, or is there no question in the first post? Maybe **Jimby** just wanted us to nod, “Cool, fleur de lis… _manifique,_ mon…” > [@Jim\_B](#): > > The fleur de lis is an ancient symbol. Some say it represents the Holy Trinity. But a more likely explanation is that it represents the three theological virtues of faith hope and charity. (This would also explain why there are three on the old royal standard of France for the Trinity, which otherwise would be redundant.) Just like the heart represents love, the fleur de lis represents virtue. As I said, it was on the old royal standard of France, representing the House of Bourbon. And as such, it is a de facto symbol of the French and French culture too. (The discussion of whether anyone would know what this is called came later, as well as all those Fun Facts.) No harm, no foul. But having read a few thousand OPs here, it felt off-kilter to me. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518/29 "2022-02-01T05:18:58Z")
There is no question in the first post. But, then, it wasn’t posted in General Questions, but in Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share. The first post seems to fit the description to a tee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fleur-de-lis/958518.md?page=1)