J - 2

[frenchani]

Our first candidate today must be unknown by foreigners...Hell he's barely known in France!

Nihous is the candidate supported by CPNT (Chasse, Pêche, Nature et Tradition) a  small traditionalist lobby party that represents what we would call "La France profonde" (rural France). The Green party is their nemesis for they defend hunting and claim they

Comments

[lijability]

I think the idea of having Segolene's picture to be just her face is to associate only her ideas with the woman, and put those ideas to the forefront.

Interesting, Nihous.... His name would seem to belie a German heritage. I don't think that "Ni-" is a French prefix for a name, but "Nie-" meaning lower in German is. And in French when the name "Hous" is adopted it would be spelled "House." So my guess is that this guy isn't a traditionalist Frenchman but comes from German immigrants from Westfalen or Lower Saxony where the name is spelled "Niehaus." Heck the guy might be related to a Niehaus family here in my hometown whose family comes from the same small town just north of Osnabrueck in Germany. How's that for a conspiracy theory?

[lijability]

Same small town north of Osnabrueck in Germany where my paternal family line originates - I meant to say.

[sister_luck]

Funny, I thought the same thing about his name and then I know next to nothing about this kind of thing.

I've got a colleague of that name, btw, and there's an old sign in my neighbourhood that has a connection, too.

[lijability]

Chani came through with the answer just below, his paternal line is Dutch. So the spelling is about halfway between German and English, thus Nihous.

But was your colleague of the name Nihous or Niehaus?

[sister_luck]

The German version, of course. The connection is pretty clear, they are very similar - the German has the added e and a instead of the o, but the pronunciation is probably miles apart. I expect the h and s to be silent in French, but I could be wrong, and the ou and au sound of totally different of course.

[sister_luck]

Here's the sign. I assume it's from the 1950s or early 1960s. Modern-day archaeology brought it to light again - it was hidden by a billboard or some panelling for most of the time that I've lived around here.

[frenchani]

Okay research girl to the rescue!

Frédéric is from Northern France (Valencienne). His grandfather came from Poland but his other grandfather (his father's father) came from Holland. Looks like he prefers to say he has Polish roots and emphasize that heritage because the second grandfather was a pharmacian while the Polish one was a miner!

[lijability]

Ahhh.... that explains the spelling... Dutch! Dutch is sometimes a comprimise between a German and English spelling, which make sense being wedged between the two more larger states.

Heck I could say I am Polish, but that one-sixteenth doesn't really come through.