# The French and Suppositories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032 "2005-05-29T23:31:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cranston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cranston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cranston)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/1 "2005-05-29T23:31:29Z")
Does anybody have any facts and figures on the French use of suppositories for medical purposes? For - would you believe - business purposes, I have been searching for these on the Web and been unable to find accurate or credible figures. I know that while the British and the Dutch prefer pills to cure most ailments and the Germans take an injectio, the French - so legend has it - prefer suppositories. So, does anyone know how many of these things they use a year? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/2 "2005-05-30T00:15:45Z")
> [@cranston](#): > > I know that while the British and the Dutch prefer pills to cure most ailments and the Germans take an injectio, the French - so legend has it - prefer suppositories. How do you know any of this? Can you link to a site? Can you give any more info? ---
**Author:** ![cranston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cranston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cranston)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/3 "2005-05-30T00:33:12Z")
The evidence is largely anecdotal but here is just one of many sites in which non-French people are surprised to be prescribed a supository for something as simple as a sore throad. [http://frenchgardening.com/postcard.tmpl?SKU=3180490964157568](http://frenchgardening.com/postcard.tmpl?SKU=3180490964157568) ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/4 "2005-05-30T02:08:19Z")
A pharmacist once told me that a suppository is a surprisingly quick and effective way of getting drugs into the blood stream. Given the choice, I’d rather have a pill. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/5 "2005-05-30T02:19:39Z")
> [@cranston](#): > > [http://frenchgardening.com/postcard.tmpl?SKU=3180490964157568](http://frenchgardening.com/postcard.tmpl?SKU=3180490964157568) Damn! Where can I get some of these sore-throat healing butt-pills? Given a sufficiently bad sore throat, I’d shove a pineapple up my ass to make it feel better. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/6 "2005-05-30T02:49:38Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > Damn! Where can I get some of these sore-throat healing butt-pills? Given a sufficiently bad sore throat, I’d shove a pineapple up my ass to make it feel better. ditto! I hate swallowing with a sore throat, and I get a good round of strep very year=( ---
**Author:** ![cranston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cranston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cranston)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/7 "2005-05-30T11:06:18Z")
He he… but does anyone have access to any statistics about suppository usage in France at all? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-and-suppositories/306032/8 "2005-05-30T13:35:26Z")
> [@cranston](#): > > . . . while the British and the Dutch prefer pills to cure most ailments and the Germans take an injection, the French - so legend has it - prefer suppositories. Well, fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong . . .