France: Prime Minister Penis
Starting the noveau regime off the wrong foot,
France’s new prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault leaves Middle East red-faced… as his name sounds like the Arabic for penis
France’s new prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has triggered confusion and embarrassment in Arabic-speaking countries – because his surname sounds like their word for ‘penis’.
Newsreaders in Arab nations have swiftly come up with a host of strategies to avoid pronouncing his name correctly.
In French, the name is correctly pronounced ‘Eye-ro’.
Now you know the word in Arabic.
Meanwhile, in France,
The French themselves changed the spelling of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s name to ‘Putine’, because it sounded like ‘putain’ – the French word for prostitute
The Spanish, well-deserving their potty-mouths reputations, didn’t bother change Putin, and pronounce it poo-TEEN, thereby calling him “little male whore.”
Which, of course makes me proud of my Iberian ancestors.
Tags: Fausta's blog, Jean-Marc Ayrault
May 17th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Almost as funny as the “overcharge” button Hillary’s State Department gave to the Russians. But only almost. Error of commission trumps unexpected coincidence.
May 18th, 2012 at 10:21 am
At least his first name is not Richard.
May 20th, 2012 at 4:52 am
>>> because it sounded like ‘putain’ – the French word for prostitute
Well, he IS a politician. I mean, how much difference is there, when you really come down to it?
…Other than cost, I mean. Politicians are far more expensive than any prostitute ever dreamed of being.