My favorite French word, bigoudi, is a very likely sounding name for a hair roller. (The i's are pronounced like long e's.) I even know a French family who nicknamed its grandmother Bigoudette because she spent so much time with her hair in a mise en plis, or set in curlers.
At home, too, we called our own tender-headed and tantrum-throwing toddler who would hardly let us touch his hair, Le Bigoudi. I was dumb-founded at the check-out stand in a French supermarket one day when a young clerk admiring my little boy's anglaises or boucles (curly locks), naively asked me if I rolled his hair. "No," I said, and glibly gave her my down-pat, all-purpose explanation,"He's French."
Dictum: Cheveux frisés, aimé. Curly hair, well-loved.
Text & photos ©2009 P.B. Lecron
An update
Fast forward to the year 2021! Decades later that curly-haired little boy is the inspiration for a character in a new fairy tale, Une Véritable Petite Souris, authored and illustrated by yours truly. It's a story about an ordinary French mouse named Iris who dreams of being La Petite Souris, which in France is the equivalent of the Tooth Fairy. The fully illustrated story, and its English version, A Genuine Little Mouse, are available worldwide on Amazon. Click on the titles to take a peek!
©2021 P. B. Lecron
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