My Dear Renee- It is true that great numbers of the Quebecoise (French Canadians, "Cajuns", from the English place-name "Acadia") migrated south after the dismal fall of New France to England in 1763. My New Englander blood remembers a whisp of Quebecoise ass-kicking, even though it has been a looong time. Call it ancestral memory. My northern neighbours returned the favor by handing us a fine ass-kicking in the War of 1812, but I digress... (Well...actually...every time the U.S. has invaded Canada they have beaten the everlovin' snotts out of us. We tend to forget that. Ever watch them play hockey? You don't really want to mess with people like that. They are *not* harmless snow-bunnies with funny-looking money and better beer.) Many Quebecoise eventually settled here in New England, where there were jobs working in dreary cotton spinning and weaving mills for pennies. I have neighbours here in Massachusetts with names like Arsenault, Bouvier, Barriere. French Hugenots trying to find religious freedom for themselves (but not anyone else) settled here, too. And all of them will tell you, it's Hee-bert. Not 'A-ber. The Francophones who settled here have long since learned *English*. It's not like in Lousiana, where they have arguably forgotten how to speak intelligible French, and wage a charming daily struggle with English. Just ask my neighbours the Arsen-allts, the Boo-vee-errrs, or the Barry-errs. Or the Hue-go-nots...The father of one our greatest New England patriots was born "De Revoire" in France. When he emigrated to Massachusets, he sensibly changed it to Revere. As in Paul Revere. Rhymes with beer. It's just easier that way. Hee-bert, Renee. Hee-bert. Just like it's spelled. Are-ree-vwar, sherry. Alexandra in Ma Todd: (Snicker-snicker-snicker!) Hebert: What's funny? I don't get it. What's hockey? [Posted in FML 6144]