croiss-ants

In today’s Wayno / Piraro Bizarro: croissants as a characteristically French pastry; then pulling out the ANTS part of the spelling CROISSANTS (never mind how this word is actually pronounced, in either French or English) for a far-fetched pun, with two ants — the insects — exemplifying characteristics of the stereotypical Frenchman (Wayno’s title is “The French Bugs”):


(#1) Breton striped shirts, or marinières; berets; a pungent cigarette in a cigarette holder for Ant 1; a mustache (curled at the tips), French scarf, glass of wine, and baguette for Ant 2 (if you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Dan Piraro says there are 2 in this strip — see this Page)

Previously on this blog. Two postings about stereotypical Frenchmen.

— from my 10/5/22 posting “Zhock jocks at play”:


(#2) Frenchified jocks

The stereotypical Frenchman. Bears little similarity to actual Frenchmen. On the list of stereotypical characteristics (which, of course, don’t hang together at all):

rude, heavy smoker, lazy and unshaven, with poor hygiene, accomplished lover, philanderer / horndog, heavy wine drinker, lover of good food, with a refined sense of style and artistry

From this list, visible in the cartoon guys: facial stubble in Guy2, Gauloises-style cigarette in Guy3, and for wine and food, red wine in Guy1, champagne in Guy2, and the baguette in Guy3 (missing on the food front: French cheeses, especially stinky ones, and frog’s legs and escargots).

Then the stereotypical French mustache, on all three men (curled at the tips in Guy1 and Guy3).

Stereotypical French apparel: Breton striped shirts, or marinières, in Guy1 and Guy3 (plus striped socks in Guy2); the French scarves for men in Guy1 and Guy3; the beret, the tricolor soccer shorts, and the Eiffel Tower-logo jacket in Guy2. That French beret in Guy2 stands against jockwear — the baseball cap — in Guy3 and, in Guy2, headgear whose import isn’t clear to me: a newsboy cap worn back-to-front.

— in my 10/18/22 posting “The stereotypical French hen”, a Xmas card using three French hens to embody Frenchman stereotypes:

(3)

Pungent cigarettes all around, a beret, a Breton striped shirt. And — surprise! — a garland of garlic, standing presumably for both body odor and fine gastronomy.

 

Leave a Reply


%d bloggers like this: