# Why are the French called "frogs"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515 "2001-10-10T04:42:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ironick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8dc957/32.png) [@ironick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ironick)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/1 "2001-10-10T04:42:08Z")
If there’s anyone out there who can tell me why the French are referred to as “frogs”, I’d really appreciate knowing. Someone told me that the French prince who tried to woo Elizabeth I was nicknamed “Froggy” and the English then began to call all French “frogs”, but I’m not sure on the accuracy of this. Does anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![achterover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@achterover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achterover)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/2 "2001-10-10T04:48:26Z")
Frog: It’s what’s for dinner. “Frogs” is really short for “frog-eaters.” It refers to the English distaste of French menu selections. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/3 "2001-10-10T04:54:16Z")
Not according to [this](http://www.homestead.com/gji/124000musings.html) site. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/4 "2001-10-10T05:09:34Z")
I learned something, I thought that “frogs” just referred to the French-Canadians. > [@](#): > > “Frogs” is really short for “frog-eaters.” It refers to the English distaste of French menu selections. It’s kind of ironic that the English would criticize another culture’s culinary tastes. Not that I’m familiar with English cuisine, I’m just going off stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![achterover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@achterover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achterover)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/5 "2001-10-10T05:14:51Z")
learning what I had always assumed about the etymology is wrong or the guy in the link’s fetish-like amphibial descriptions 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/6 "2001-10-10T05:35:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dignan \* > \*\*It’s kind of ironic that the English would criticize another culture’s culinary tastes. > \*\* Well, the roughly analogous term would be the French _les rosbifs,_ which pokes fun at the English for their love of beef. Because it’s vaguely relevant, I’ll reproduce for you my all-time favorite footnote to a Shakespeare play: > [@](#): > > **fat bull-beeves** The association of the English with beef, particularly in the context of a nationalistic assertion of masculinity and courage, is long-standing. The Elizabethan army received a ration, every seventh day, of two pounds of salt beef or two and a half pounds of fresh (Cruikshank, 88). Whether in this play, in Hogarth’s eighteenth-century painting _The Roast Beef of Old England_ or in the present-day (1999) journalistic response to continental worries about the dangers of British beef infected by BSE, beef is a marker of the line between England and France. The French term _les rosbifs_ for the English is still at the time of writing just about current, though perhaps rather camp. ‘Beef-witted’ (Nashe, 1.370.18; _TC_ 2.1.12) is not a compliment, even in English. > (_1 Henry VI,_ Arden edn., 1.2.9n.) Actually, we had a thread like this a while back, but it seems to be gone now – I ran a search and couldn’t find it. The general agreement was that the culinary explanation is probably the correct one. ---
**Author:** ![sirjamesp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/7 "2001-10-10T07:45:41Z")
Calling the French “frogs” because they eat frogs-legs is almost certainly correct. We also call the Germans “krauts” as they eat sauerkraut, and Americans “Big Mac with large fries and a Coke”. OK, maybe not the last one. We are a charming group of people, the English. ---
**Author:** ![daffodil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@daffodil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffodil)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/8 "2001-10-10T09:17:14Z")
What about the people from Hamburg, or Frankfurt? Denmark? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/9 "2001-10-10T09:27:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by daffodil \* > \*\*What about the people from Hamburg, or Frankfurt? > > Denmark? \*\* I refuse to eat turnips. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/10 "2001-10-10T10:01:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by daffodil \* > \*\*What about the people from \*\*A)\*\*Hamburg, or \*\*B)\*\*Frankfurt? > > \*\*Edit in BOLD > \*\* A) Frankfurts B) Hamburgers ---
**Author:** ![daffodil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@daffodil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffodil)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/11 "2001-10-10T10:47:30Z")
\*\* Okay! \*\* :confused ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/12 "2001-10-10T11:52:25Z")
Since everyone seems to be jumping on the “frog eater” bandwagon, I’d just like to point out that the issue is not that clear (as a brief search of this Forum notes). In increasing age: [The French = frogs?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=78999) [The French and the Frogs…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77429) [Why are the French Called Frogs?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=47235) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/13 "2001-10-10T12:28:43Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by daffodil_ > > What about the people from Hamburg, or Frankfurt? > > > > Denmark? > > I refuse to eat turnips. 😃 Wouldn’t that be Holland? 😃 [sub]'Cause, “turnips” sounds, like “tulips”, y’see, and Holland is famous for tulips, and… Oh, never mind. Some jokes are just plain **bad**.[/sub] Hm. I think I’ll see if I can find a **Danish**. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/14 "2001-10-10T17:04:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by daffodil \* > \*\*What about the people from Hamburg, or Frankfurt? > > Denmark? \*\* Or Vienna, for that matter…although that joke doesn’t work very well in English, does it? [sub]In German, Vienna is Wien.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![achterover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@achterover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achterover)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/15 "2001-10-10T21:57:43Z")
Ich bin ein Berliner, ein Hamburger, ein Frankfurter und ein Wiener… 70% How you look 20% How you sound 10% What you say ---
**Author:** ![mancunian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mancunian/32/12244_2.png) [@mancunian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mancunian)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/16 "2001-10-10T22:03:42Z")
It is because of frogs legs. Just like they call us “Ros Beouf(sp?)” Thought I hate roast beef. Figures. ---
**Author:** ![Infidel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@Infidel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infidel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/17 "2001-10-11T00:47:11Z")
I always thought it stood for French Republic Of Germany! Seriously! ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/18 "2001-10-11T01:50:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Infidel \* > \*\*I always thought it stood for French Republic Of Germany! Seriously! \*\* BWAHAHAHAHA I love making fun of the french. Good thing many french like making fun of americans. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/19 "2001-10-11T06:07:55Z")
From Simpsons Halloween Special VIII “The Homega Man”. France launches a neutron bomb at Springfield after Mayor Quimby made a frog legs joke. Mayor Quimby: “I stand by my ethnic slur! Do your worst, you filthy, pretentious savages!” cut to French government “We will show the stupid Americans who le clutzy frog, eh?” (his associates laugh, their necks inflating as they do so like that of frogs) ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515/20 "2001-10-11T12:26:18Z")
Slightly more disturbing is the French expression to indicate that a woman has started her period - **Les Anglais sont arrive** (there should be an acute over the last “e” but I don’t know how to do that!). It means **The English have arrived**! As a Scot, I find the whole thing amusing, but imagine having your race/nation compared with menstrual blood :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-french-called-frogs/86515.md?page=2)