My mom luckily has a pretty voice, because she sure does love to sing. While cooking for her friends today, she sang an old Edith Piaf song, and it went; padam, padam, padam....
I know it well. I even think there is an English, and a Polish version, but for some reason today it sounded like Paname. Well, Paname IS after all a slang name for Paris. I have heard it a million times and even referred to it by that name myself. It just dawned on me thought that I never asked why. Why the hell would Paris be called Paname? From Panama? I couldn't believe I never questioned this before. I have just welcomed Paname into my vernacular without doubt or reservation, and what's unlike me, without an ounce of curiosity.
Google search returned few satisfactory results. Wiktionary claims that the name Paname refers to Panama hats worn by men in Paris in the early 20th century, and then proceeds to tell me that it is another name for Paris - without elaborating.
Since I speak fluent french I re-tried the search, but this got me into a convoluted hunt. Looks like most Parisians don't know themselves. From all the forums, blogs and sites I got two most popular versions:
1. The aforementioned hat account
2. The name comes from a slang word popular around 1900's where Panama meant huge, and as Paris is huge, the name caught on
Any other stories, please share.
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