Feels like high school geography class…but I’m getting to know the regions!
Voici Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the northernmost region of France. Pas means strait (here referring to the English Channel, or la Manche). As an anglophile as well as a francophile, I’m dead chuffed!
Le Nord, as people from the south call it, is known for bitter weather, stinky cheese (who knew any cheese was stinky to the French?), beer-drinking, and warm, friendly people. Not bad, huh?
For some light-hearted stereotypes of the Nord region, check out the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis. A southern frenchman is sent to work in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, where people talk funny (sh’est sha, n’est pas?) and make him eat really strong cheese. But there’s a happy ending. Sorry about the poor quality of the trailer, but there are English subtitles!
Mot-valise 