‘may contain spider’: horror at language error in french supermarket

A QUICK TRANSLATION OF INGREDIENTS ON A PACKET OF BISCUITS LED TO AN UNUSUAL ALLERGY WARNING Just before Halloween, I got the most terrible fright – and it was nothing to do with _fantômes_

(ghosts) or spookily lit _citrouilles_ (pumpkins). Casually reading the list of ingredients on a packet of biscuits, I was stopped in my snack tracks upon seeing the words "_traces de

arachnides_". _Quel horreur!_ I gasped, imagining a carefree factory worker sweeping up the floor and nonchalantly lobbing bits of deceased spider into the biscuit mix loader. I had, of

course, made the mistake of misreading the word as_ arachnide_ instead of _arachide _– easily done. MAY CONTAIN NUTS _Arachide_ is the French word for the genus name for peanuts, _Arachis

hypogaea_, so the cookie maker's warning was for those susceptible to allergies, and means "may contain nuts". [Readers should be aware that traces are warned about in many

French foods, including cream desserts, cheeses with dried fruit in them, yoghurt with muesli, dairy products containing cereals, ice cream, frozen desserts, cereal bars, _galette des rois_

(eaten over epiphany, January 6) and many plats préparés (ready meals) – so always read the label]. READ MORE: SUNFLOWER OIL REPLACEMENT IN FRANCE: WHAT IF I HAVE ALLERGIES? FRENCH SPIDER

PHRASES Back to _arachnides_, joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods) of which spiders are just one species. The latter are called araignées in French and have inspired various florid

expressions, such as this to describe someone as a being mentally disturbed – "_avoir une araignée au plafond_" (to have a spider living in one's head, ie. on the roof of the

skull). On a kinder note, this from writer Jules Renard (1864-1910): "_Quelques gouttes de rosée sur une toile d'araignée, et voilà une rivière de diaman_ts" – "A few

drops of dew on a spider's web, and there you have a river of diamonds". RELATED ARTICLES WHAT IT IS LIKE TO TAKE TCF FRENCH TEST WHEN APPLYING FOR NATIONALITY HUNGRY, PECKISH,

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