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The great french pastry debate

1/2/2017

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In Australia there are regional variations to the language and words that we use.  For example, in Queensland we say "togs", however in NSW they are usually called "swimmers", and in more southern and western parts of Australia, they are termed "bathers" (of course they are ubiquitously known as "budgie smugglers across Australia!).  
​Togs are not alone.  A "car boot" is called other things in various parts of Australia (e.g. trunk), as is "port" (e.g. bag, suitcase, case etc), and many others (potato scallop, drinking fountain, sausage sizzle, rubbish bin, etc.  PhD theses have been written on the issue of regional variations of lexical usage and there are "word maps" readily available on-line!​

Pain au chocolat OR chocolatine?
France has its own great language debate, the most prominent being what to call the popular pastry ​"pain au chocolat" - as it is commonly known in Australia.  There are whole web sites devoted to this issue, research into the reasons for the variations across the country, and there has been national surveys on the nomenclature of this pastry.
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So, when I walk into the local boulangerie craving that iconic, buttery, flaky pastry with a dark chocolate center, do I ask for a pain au chocolat, or a chocolatine? 
The majority of the French would say "pain au chocolat", at least according to one website entirely devoted to the topic.  This website has a live, on-going survey that asks voters for their preferred term and their region of France.  
The national results are in ....
This survey of over 110,000 people to date has found that 59.77% of respondants would say pain au chocolat, with 40.22% going for chocolatine.
  The results reveal that "chocolatine" voters are hugely congregated in the south west of the country. 
And in Verteuil?
The problem I have is that Verteuil is in situated on the cusp, on the vague demarcation line between the south west region and the rest of the country - in the "chocolatine - pain au chocolat hot zone". There are 1441 respondants to the abovementioned survey to date in the departement of Charente.  90% indicated that they use the term "chocolatine".  However, interestingly, it seems that our little village of Verteuil bucks the trend.

​The jury is in ....
I went into the local boulangerie and asked them what term they use in their establishment.  
The response was a clear "pain au chocolat".  
No avenue of appeal.  
​There is only one boulangerie in the village so, they have the final say.
"Pain au chocolat" it is.

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    Jim lives in Brisbane, Australia, works at The University of Queensland, and enjoys visiting, reading and learning about France. 

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  • welcome
  • the house
  • the location
    • the village
    • map of the village
    • how to get there
    • the region
  • things to do and see
    • in the village
    • the local area
    • further afield
  • rates and contact us
  • resources & additional information
  • house in verteuil blog