Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Nice ASSE


Outside of teaching, I don't encounter much English in my day to day life here in France (aside from speaking to other English assistants or reading the English translations of signs in museums, which contain a surprising number of mistakes). The gem above, however, is a constant source of amusement for us English speakers living in SaintÉ.

ASSE stands for Association Sportive de Saint Étienne, SaintÉ's football (soccer) team. Unlike us foreigners, the French pronounce every letter in the acronym, "A-S-S-E." They are also called les verts after the team's colour. ASSE's glory days were in the seventies, when they won la Coupe de France four times.

Although less humourous than Nice, ASSE's number one rival is Lyon. The two opponents faced off in SaintÉ the night we were in Lyon eating frog legs. Lyon won 4-1.

"Allez les verts!"

(Photo by Amy Barger)

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