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Archiver > ACADIAN-CAJUN > 1999-06 > 0928866966


From: DeTrolio <>
Subject: Unidentified subject!
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 14:36:06 -0400


Thank you James Carten... I always wondered why French Canadians were called frogs. I'm still wondering if it is considered a slur? I wouldn't want to use the nickname and hurt someone's feelings...

(I have a French Bulldog for a pet, and these are often referred to as FROG DOGS, isn't that cute?)

Pam DeTrolio
" Frogs "
Have you ever been called a "Frog"??Growing up in the 1930's I often wondered why some people in my home town of Concodria, Kansas would call us of Canadian Decent, "frogs". It never made me mad or hurt my feelings I would just wonder why. Now 62 years later I know why.
In the second book of " The Kings Daughters " by Louise Pomeroy I found the answer, there is an article by Frank Binette & this is what I found.
>From the time of discovery of Canada by Jacques Cartier in 1535 to the
conquest of Canada in 1760 thousands of French Sailing Ships went back & Forth between France & the new colony then called Norvelle France. Most ships were 50 to 60 feet long & 16 to 18 feet wide, half a dozen sails & two or three masts. Crews consisted of 15 to 20 men, the number of passengers & animals taken on board would travel in the "open space " below.
The trips would take from two to three months depending upon the weather & winds. There was either extreme heat or cold & dampness in the steerage space. There was also a shortage of food & water, the threat of sickness & disease was ever present with scurvy & dysentery. Many died and were buried at sea.
On those voyages drinking water was imperative to survival. In time the water would become foul and was suspected as the cause of sickness & death.
The French devised a method of utilizing live frogs to the testing the drinking water. The drinking water was kept in barrels at the bottom of the ship. Two barrels were kept on hand in the crews living quarters and from there was rationed out at certain times of the day. One barrel was open for use & the second barrel was standby & into it was put a live frog. When the first barrel was empty they would check the second barrel to see if the frog was still alive & the barrel was open for use & another barrel brought up from storage & the frog was transferred to into the new "standby barrel". If the frog had died the barrel was declared unfit to drink & the water was diverted to other usages.
The lable "frog" was first applied to French sailors by English sailors when it was learned that frogs were being used to test water on French ships. Eventually the term was extended to all French people & still later to the people of French-Canadian extraction.

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