If you are an American living in Paris, you may get tired of Americans back home asking, "Paris, FRANCE?" when you say where you live (followed often by "Wow, you sure speak good English!" since most Americans are firmly convinced that only foreigners live in Foreignland).
Or, you may get tired of French people laughing that Americans always ask, "Paris, FRANCE?"
The fact is that there are two dozen American cities named Paris. So the question is not so stupid. Here are some of them.
Paris, Texas is the most famous, thanks to that dumb movie by a foreigner, full of Euro clichés about the U.S.
Paris, Kentucky. It's in Bourbon County. There's also a Versailles, Kentucky. Pronounced to rhyme with "for sales."
Paris, Maine
Paris, Indiana
Paris, Idaho
Paris, Tennessee
and of course
Paris, Las Vegas
As a French expat living in California, I get a lot of Americans telling me they've seen Paris... in Vegas. Going to the 'real' Paris, France, seems redundant to them. Go figure.
Posted by: 2Laure | 29 August 2011 at 04:31
Charming post! You might be interested in knowing that Canada's Saskatoon sometimes get called "Paris of the Prairies." I was there for a conference a few years ago with a friend who had also recently visited Paris (in, you know, France) -- surveying, from one of the bridges crossing the South Saskatchewan River, the other bridges lined up, one could, indeed, imagine oneself straddling the Seine . . .
Posted by: materfamilias | 29 August 2011 at 19:35
I don't quite recall all the details of "Paris, Texas" the movie but do you say it is dumb ? It was an widely acclaimed movie at the time.
Posted by: josh | 04 September 2011 at 22:33
Hi Josh,
That's just IMO. A lot of people also love Woody Allen's latest movie "Midnight in Paris" which I thought was dumb for the same reason-- stuffed with 10th-grade-intellectual clichés.
Posted by: Sedulia | 05 September 2011 at 19:30
Funny ! My dad was actually born & bred in Paris, Kentucky. I grew up not too far from Paris, Maine. And now live in Paris, France. Of course, my parents moved back to KY last year... and whenever I visit, I do have to clarify... people there actually usually call it "the real Paris..."
Posted by: Caroline | 11 September 2011 at 23:54
While vacationing in Maine this summer, I told a local I lived in Paris. He rightly assumed I meant his Paris--Paris, Maine--not that other one in France. Paris can mean something totally different for a lot of people!
Posted by: Linds | 20 September 2011 at 07:20