Nid de poule

My French friend Marko laughed today when I said I had just learned an amusing new expression - the French word for "pothole": nid de poule, or "chicken's nest". A flyer came in the post a few days ago talking about this perennial Montreal complaint, with a picture of a squawking chicken and the tag line "A nice word for an unpleasant problem". M. told me that when the potholes get really big, they're called nids d'autruche - ostrich nests. I'm especially aware of potholes now that I ride a bike practically everywhere I go - the other day we (my bike and I) avoided one that was practically as big as we were, near Place des Arts. No feathered culprits around but pigeons, though...

Comments

[chris dewolf]

i finally got my bike fixed this spring (it had spent the year previous on the balcony suffering from a bent wheel) and have been riding around a bit. the potholes really are atrocious. strangely enough, though, they're the worst in outremont, a decidedly posh borough. cross park avenue back into mile end and suddenly the roads are much smoother.

[baloo]

nid à poules: garçonnière!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Saeed al Sahaf - Iraqi Head of Information
The chicken did not cross the road. This is a complete fabrication. In fact, we do not even have a chicken.
Hans Blix
We have reason to believe there may be potential for this chicken's capability, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
Colin Powell
Now, to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
George W Bush
We don't care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either for us or against us. There is no middle ground.
Tony Blair
I agree with George.
John Howard
I agree with George and Tony.
Jacques Chirac
La France arigato chicken, our dear and best friend, to having crossing the road.
Condi Rice
We agree, as long as the chicken do not cross illegally an international road.
Simon Crean
@#$#!!& Chicken. No one crosses the @#$#!!& road without my @#$#!!& say so. It's time for the chicken to put up or shut up.
Peter Hollingworth (Governor-General)
I am not aware of any impropriety in the chicken crossing the road. In fact, I am led to believe that it was the other way around and the chicken asked for it.
John Kerry
Looks like the chicken was crossing in the opposite direction of the other side of the road when you are sitting where I am.
Dr Seuss
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
Martin Luther King, Jr
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.
Grandpa
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
Oprah
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it felt accomplishing its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
Deepak chopra
The amazing quest of a chicken crossing the breathtaking road toward self realisation
John Lennon
Imagine all the chickens, crossing all the roads.
You may say I'm a dreamer - but its not the only hen.
Michael Jackson
There's nothing more wonderful than sharing your bed with a chicken.
Aristotle
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
Karl Marx
It was an historic inevitability.
Sigmund Freud
The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.
Mohandas Gandhi
This chicken was really courageous. Not possible in India, deadly traffic.
Pope John Paul II
The chicken cross, the pope cross, we all shall cross the road one day.
Indigo Child
The chicken has the psychic ability to cross the road in a nonconformist way
Dalai Lama
The chicken had to cross 500-yard wide Brahmaputra road, and endure the harsh climate and extreme heights of the Himalayas, travelling at night to avoid the Chinese sentry guards.
Zhaozhou Zen Master
A monk asked, "What is the meaning of chicken crossing the road?". Zhaozhou said "The cypress tree in the courtyard".
Bill Gates
eChicken 2003 version 1.0 will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your cheque book - and Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken.
Albert Einstein
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
Bill Clinton
I did not have sexual relations with that chicken!
Monica L.
It is not a chicken which pooh on my dress!
The Bible
And God came down from heaven, and he said unto the chicken THOU SHALT CROSS THE ROAD. And the chicken didst cross the road, and there was much rejoicing.
Colonel Sanders
Did I miss one?
Homer Simpson
Mmmmmmmmm ... c h i c k e n.

bon appétit mésié zé madam
Baloo

[miguel]

I've always liked the word a bump in the road: "Thank you, M'am".

[Martha Barnette]

And let's not forget "sleeping policemen" for speedbumps in Britain and Australia!