Correspondent archives

Profile Photo
David Jaggard

After growing up in the US and studying in the Netherlands, I moved to Paris intending to stay six months. That was in 1983. Fifteen years later, in the hope of earning a life experience doctorate in Wiseassology, I began writing my satire site Quorum of One, which led to the publication of a book available on Amazon. I am also an editor for The Big Jewel and the author of another regular humor column on Paris Update. You can follow the Ranting Frenchologist on Facebook and Twitter, and you can find me on Google+.

Ranting Frenchologist
Vie Française The Ranting Frenchologist |

Before France was France: what’s left of Lutèce

The Roman city was dubbed Lutetia, which the Gauls, who even then couldn’t be bothered to pronounce the final syllables of most words, immediately shortened to Lutèce. It spread out south from the Seine, covering the area now occupied by landmarks like the Sorbonne, the Jardins de Luxembourg and the restaurant Polidor, whose toilet dates from this period.