The Meaning of Cute Signs, or How Not to be French

The impasse that we live on does not have a street sign, though it is has a name that nobody in our village knows of. Instead they refer to it as, "Where Monsieur Dupont use to live." To complicate the matter the post man did not know our street, and yet the postal service insisted that we use it.

After living here for as long as we have, we are known, we do not use our street address, and the street sign is still missing.

Yesterday at the antique fair French Husband spotted an old street sign that read: Avenue des Papillions or Avenue of the Butterflies. I had to have it. French Husband doubtfully added, "But there are no butterflies by our house, and we do not live on an Avenue.

You see the French in general, or maybe just my husband, are oriented towards things being exact. They are mindful to details. Lunch at 12:30, coffee at 2:00, cigarette after a meal, sugar and salt don't mix.

Avenue des Papillons isn't meant to be an impasse without butterflies, because that would be another name.

I had to remind him that our impasse has a name that isn't French, and that nobody knows how to spell, "I think it was made up. It isn't even listed on the city chart at the city hall!" I begged with made up reason.

French Husband countered with, "No that is not true. But we cannot just stick the sign on our impasse, and claim it Avenue des Papillons." 

"Why not?" I tilted my head for stubborn measure. 

"Because we are French, and it doesn't work like that." He shook his head to remind me that I am not French.

"Pooh. We can put the sign up, like we can put a pot of flowers outside on our step... it doesn't mean we are going to change the name or start using it as our address." I weaved my way, "... it is just something sweet, a little note of sweetness on our impasse that is all."

"Cute." He teased.

"Yeah Cute." I nodded.

We bought it.

             If you could change the name of your street what would you call it?

Comments

[Toni]

lapins ensoleillées

[Carol L]

I once lived in a very old house , circa 1858, and it had a little wooden shed just a few steps up a Lilly of the valley covered slope from it. I saw a cute sign at an antique show that said "Cottage for rent". I bought it and hung it on the side of the shed next to a bird house.
I finally took it down after the third person knocked on my door and asked if they could rent it. This shed was slightly tilted and had no electricity or running water, just mice & cobwebs.
I guess some people, in both our countries, take signs very seriously so maybe if you put your sign up you must prepare yourself to now raise butterflies too !

[martina]

Rue des chats lunatique

[Gail]

Hydrangea Cottage Road would be nice. The butterfly ave sign may rename your street! Why not?

[Star]

Ours is just a numbered street, so anything would be an improvement. Maybe route de mer - does dreaming make it so?

For some reason, I was impressed to look at the family album in your sidebar again today. What a treat to see your beautiful nieces dressed for Easter a from a few years ago.

[Cathi]

I live on Tiara Street and I absolutely love it!

[Anjanette]

SLOW DOWN Already ST.

[Kathy Barrick]

About (gulp) 25 years ago, I lived in a town called Feagaville in Frederick County, Maryland. It was pronounced Fig-E-ville. The name of the road I lived on was Willis Derr Road. There was also an Elmer Derr Road in the area. Willis and Elmer were brothers and farmers. For some reason, the county decided to change the name of our road and sent the choices to each resident on the road. I can't remember all the choices, but one option was to keep it Willis Derr Road and another was to change it to Feagaville Lane. Feagaville Lane won and it was the option I selected. If I had to do it again, I would keep it Willis Derr Road. It's such an old name! And it's perfect!

["Auntie"]

You won... Well, part way, anyway. :-)

What do I wish my street name could be???? Wow! Anything, but the generic Third St., which it is. -sigh-

But what? This is a cute musing. :-)

"Auntie"

[Lana Kloch]

being an american, i understand your reasoning perfectly.. i have a large brass sign attached to our home naming our "mini estate". and the year 1852.

our house was built in 1980 and is unlike the sign. the sign is beautiful and it was free. of course it now stands as a cornerstone on our home.

american husband probably does not notice it is there... as he sits in our living room, at 10:00 there are the birds and trees and 2:00 there is the 54" tv... he is surrounded by the most beautiful treasures from my hunts around the world, but alas, he does not notice. i love him so... but ....he is happy and i am happy.. thanks for sharing your story, corey

[Diogenes]

Our street is called Kings Road, and I kind of like that name. But I also like Quai des Grands-Augustins; it sounds so Parisian, but I don't think it will fit on a street sign here.

[Kit]

I love that you live in an impasse, and that your discussion didn't end in one! I hadn't quite put two and two together that the English use of the word came from your sort of street!

I would change our road name to a much shorter one, it takes forever to write out our address and I can't pronounce Afrikaans at all well, so I frequently have to spell it out to people over the phone when giving directions!

[Jeannie]

Go With The Flow Lane or Kick Back Already Circle. :) I live on Crestview. There is not a crest or a view. I guess way back, when the Indians cleaned their fish and gathered camas root, you could see the river from here. My neighbor calls our house "Kitty Korner". Stray cats find our house as they know I am a softy and I am kitty corner from her house. I would love Avenue des Papillions - romantic and conjurs of thoughts of spring and flutterbys. Have a Happy Easter, Corey!

[deb]

Our street is Woodland and I'd keep it. Although - there is a road in a nearby town called "French Hussy Lane" (I am not making this up) and I really wanted to find a house there! There's also one called "frying pan road" and I do not want to live there.

[MT]

My previous street had a boring name, but I always liked having Boulevard or Avenue in a name... Now I live in the area that was a commercial harbor built in the late 19th century. My street is called Eastern Quay (I think that is correct translation from Oostelijke Handelskade), and has carried that name for 150 years. I just love that!

[jody]

I would change mine to
" Avenue Des Papillons"!!!
xo jody

[Janet]

You better ask Monsieur le Maire permission, Corey !!!!

[Maria]

Easy Street!

[Paulita]

I'll go with the insect realm and choose Firefly Lane.
A lane sounds nice and quaint.
I like that you call your street an impasse. Calling it a dead end would be a downer.

[Janet]

I also am Janet (the one with the Eiffel Towers
in the bathroom).
I was very happy to read that you got the sign.
We just finished with what I hope is our
finale reno project. My husband and I have
not easily agreed on much of the process.
However, when ever a worker shows up for
a day of work, he tells them, while pointing
to me, "if you have any questions, ask my
wife, she's the boss".

Girl Power is a beautiful thing !

[Sue]

Interesting! As far as I know, we have no street name, and the only streets I ever hear of having names are big roads that qualify as a "route". I think it may have to do with the fact that so many of our roads are paved over trails that used to run through rice fields. I have often wondered how in the world the mail people figure it all out! The blocks are numbered, and that is apparently how they know what's where - in 18 years of living in Japan I still haven't figured it out. Give me landmarks, baby!

For a land with such beauty, I find that the naming of things here can be quite unimaginative. The elementary school down the street is named Ebinuma, which translates as "shrimp swamp". Lovely, no? And, they wonder why we homeschool. ;o) If I could name our road... how about Cicada Lane? We have more cicada than butterflies, I think.

[Smee]

Ah. What a query! We live in a town where most of the road names are Native American Indian Tribes...such as Kiowa, Jicarilla, or Algonquin. Fortunately we live on a "weird" street, the lovely "Morning Star"! That said, it has unfortunately turned into a 'hood, wherein we should probably rename it "Nofreakin'Way"

[paula s in new mexico]

I would like to live on Red Robin Way.

[paula s in new mexico]

I would like to live on Red Robin Way.

[g]

my street is a road- richton -i always say a ton of riches-with the street sign pointing slightly upwards to the sky-i wouldn't change it- i like living on a ton of riches-if i could choose a street on wich to live it would be cherry tree lane #17-from mary poppins-17 cherry tree lane now that was a street-love that movie-

[Debbie]

Once while visiting my daughter, we drove by a quaint little neighbor hood and found Hallelujah Avenue. Since then I've always thought that would be fun to live on Hallelujah Ave!!

[Momof5]

We lived in a little village in England and all the cottages had names and people would just write the name of the cottage and the village on the envelope and it would get to you. Coming from Boston I loved this! So we had a cast iron sign made for our house in Boston. My children named our house conkers as that was a village game the children played with chestnuts and we happened to live in the village of Chestnut Hill in Ma. Anyway anyone new to our house always thinks they are at the wrong house and ask us "who Are the conkers?" Some customs just don't translate to a new country. I say put the sign up lol.

[Massilianana]

Avenue des Papillons is such a lovely name ! Why don't you use it as a seasonal name for a corner of your garden to welcome the spring born butterflies ? And you could hunt for more signs for the other seasons : Rue des Marrons Chauds / Hot Chestnuts street for winter, Allée des Cigales/ Cicadas Alley for summer and Place de l Ecole/ School Plaza (?) for autumn, for instance ! ;-)
I once lived in a street called rue de l'Olivier (Olive Tree street) which I really liked.
And I know of a few streets with funny names in Marseille like a very steep one called Traverse Casse-Cou/Break your neck street !
But I would love to live on scintillating Tiara street like your reader Cathi !

[Carol L]

Butter Boulevard !

[Nicol Sayre]

Years ago I happened upon a lovely cottage on " Pudding Pie Lane"
in England and have lusted to live on such a luscious -sounding street. Alas I haven't found any such lovely and quirky street names in my part of America as of yet! xo N

[Lindarose Curtis]

My street has a fine name: Garden
If I had to rename it, perhaps it would be Squirrel Glade Lane. You see, they run riot here.

[French la Vie]

lol! Paulita you got that right! Impasse is far prettier.

[Jennifer]

Bonjour!
Please tell French Husband that I think the "Avenue of Butterflies" is a simply charming name and I would be more than happy to have it for my street here in New Zealand. It has a very fresh, light and airy feel to it and we all know that butterflies are natures happy little cherubs, floating around doing good work.

Happy Easter
Jennifer

[24/7 in France]

Passage de l'Arc because it's just beside a stone archway in a medieval village - Voila!

[Nan]

For years we lived on a street with pretty houses but an ugly street name - 81st Street! So boring! But for the past 13 years we've lived on a street with a wonderful name - Applegate Lane. I wouldn't change it! I love it!

[Tuscan Rose]

My favorite address was a little beach cottage on Captain Hook Lane in Jamacia Beach where most of the streets were named after pirates, mermaids and sea lore

[Jan]

I love your sign. The first thing I ever purchased from Hippie Tom is an old green and white street sign that reads 'Breezy Point Rd' - it hangs in my sunroom.
I also found a shabby old black and white street sign for 'Clark's Mills Rd'; since my mister's first name is Clark I had to have it. It hangs over the entrance to the man cave. (He wasn't as charmed by it as I was...he doesn't appreciate my worn, shabby treasures.)

[Peggy Braswell]

I named my home "Full Moon Farm" on Rue de Rocheblav St. It stuck! thank goodness! Happy Easter xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

[Ann]

I love the sign! Maybe you should ask the butcher if you could put it up...he'll probably help you. Life is too short to be rigid about these things. We live on Lincoln St. which is fine but I'd rather have a name that fit the southwest USA like Camino de flores or something romantic sounding.

[Kathie B]

I grew up on a street that was named for a beloved HORSE of the family after whom the next street over was named -- obviously pre-automobile!

[Kathie B]

The mathematician in me loves streets that are -- très français! -- Cartesian coordinates, like the intersection of, say, 12th Street and 8th Avenue. Of course confusion can occur if one gets "street" and "avenue" reversed.

What I like even better is the Washington DC approach, where the north-south streets are numbered and the east-west ones are lettered; after depleting the alphabet, DC has alphabetical streets with two syllables apiece, then with three syllables! It's just those darned state-named streets running at diagonals that get me confused.

[Brenda, Walker, LA]

It's perfect..."Natures Way"...

[Carolyn]

lovely, funny to think about...I'm charmed by the names
of places and people.
I live on California Avenue but there is a corner near by where Elizabeth meets Taylor.

Happy Easter

[Natalie Thiele]

We live amongst the numbered avenues, but the street namers took some side trips between 3rd and 6 th avenues. Our street is Montgomery Way. I call it Monkey Way because I am a sock monkey lover, collector, and maker.

[Celeste]

Almost ANYTHING would be better than Ernest Gurganus Road...I'll take your cast-offs Corey!

[cheap baseball jerseys]

Express the meaning of the Signs I think more deeper explanation

[diane - florida]

Rue d'Snuggle Bunnies