petite anglaise

So, why petite anglaise?

Well, it’s a long story. I first arrived in France, many moons ago, as an exchange student attempting to teach English conversation classes in a Lycée, that was what French people called me. Possibly because they couldn’t pronounce my name (which has a “th” in it and is therefore tricky). Not because I am particularly small, because although I’m no Goliath, I have heard it used to describe girls of every conceivable shape and size. To French people, every anglaise is a petite anglaise.

The poster from the well-known French film below suggests to me that there are other connotations. I think we are all meant to be easy lays. “Petites américaines” are tarred with the same brush. It’s a cross we have to bear.