Things to do When on Bedrest #5: Find Long-Forgotten Photos

I'm still hanging out at home and today I was actually productive and cleaned out a lot of junk from my computer. I went through various photo files and got rid of a bunch of stuff. In so doing, I came across some pics that I thought I may share with you here.

I'd written previously about English words taken by the French to denote something entirely different, like "sh*t". Well, I came across the following in my neighborhood recently and I was a bit taken aback:

This is a tattoo parlor that opened up not too long ago. The name the store chose for itself is "Breizh Wankers Tattoo". Here is a sign on the door:

Breizh is Breton for someone or something from Brittany. A Breizh Wanker therefore would be a wanker from Brittany. Hmmm.

Granted, "wanker" is not a well known word in the US. I never even heard of it until I went to study in England. In England, however, it is a very often used term, derogatory for sure, and means a male masturbator. I saw a Graham Norton episode once where he gets a hold of the white pages of some US midwest state and he squealed in delight in finding several people last-named Wanker. He then proceeded to call them one by one, just to get the audience laughing as he asks for a Mr Wanker. Gwenyth Paltrow also pronounced the word very convincingly, very often, in her role as a London girl in Sliding Doors.

So I was convinced that either this tattoo parlor owner had no idea what a wanker means in English, or that it means something completely different in French. There is also the possibility of course that he knows exactly what a wanker is, and he is trying to be edgy and ironic, as one might expect tattoo parlor owners to be. Then I came across this, this time on the back window of a car parked near our apartment:

Apparently the Breizh Wanker Krew is a punk band.

If this keeps up, it won't be long until Hana asks me what a wanker is!