We have got a lot of comments about the name of the store, Long Chat de Queue. The stores name,in English The Long Tail Cat, comes from  stories of a wild animal prowling southern Illinois. To some it is a urban legend, to others it is something they have seen with their own eyes. For many years there have been sightings of a large, black or dark brown, panther-like cat roaming about small towns and farms in southern Illinois particularly Randolph County.  People who have seen this large cat describe it as a long tail cat, or a cat with a long tail,not to be confused with a short tail cat or bob-cat, which are fairly common in this area. These long tail cat sightings were viewed with skepticism as it has always been thought that mountain lions, pumas, or panthers, different names for the same large cat, had been eradicated along with the bison, black bear, wolves, and other large animals once indigenous to this area. Anyway the stories always intrigued me. Could there still be wild mountain lions living and hunting in this area? There is certainly some very rough terrain, particularly next to the bluff, where a big cat could call home. And there is an abundant supply of deer for such a cat to prey on. Then one day these unbelievable stories became fact when the carcass of a large, long tail cat was found in Randolph County after it had been struck by a train.

We wanted to translate, The Long Tail Cat, to the French language. As neither of us are fluent in French, we utilized English to French, and French to English translation tools on the INTERNET. We came up with quite an assortment of different translations. We then asked different  French speaking people how they thought, The Long Tail Cat, should be translated. Folks from Canada said one thing. People from Paris, France said it another way. And people who were not from Canada or France, but  were French speakers said something entirely different. Even people from France, but not from Paris had their own different translation.

At the end of the day I think, The Long Tail Cat, is an American expression that just can't be translated into French and keep it's intended meaning. So, here are  a few of the results we came up with. Pick one you like. That's what we did.

Long Chat de Queue, Le Chat Long de Queue, Le longue Queue de Chat, Le Chat a' longue Queue, Le Long Chat de Queue, Long Queue Chat, Le Chat Queue Long, Le Long Queue Chat, Le Chat de Longue Queue, Le Chat avec Long Queue, and Le Chat avec Le Long Queue.

To read more about cougars in Illinois: http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/features/2004july/cougar.html

http://www.mountainlion.net