Sunday, February 9, 2014

No man is an island, but some of us are rivers

From Wikipedia: “The Brague is a river in France in the département of Alpes-Maritimes and the région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The Brague takes its source near Châteauneuf-Grasse and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Antibes.

“Between Valbonne and Biot, a 9 km long path follows the river. Part of the Brague Valley is covered by a Park called the "Parc Départemental de la Brague".

“The Brague is 21 km long.”

If, like our friend Vagabonde, you would prefer to read it in French, there’s always this article from the French Wikipedia.

The best-known person named Brague alive today may be Rémi Brague (1947- ), a French historian of philosophy, specializing in the Arabic, Jewish, and Christian thought of the Middle Ages. He is professor emeritus of Arabic and religious philosophy at the Sorbonne, and Romano Guardini chair of philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Ancestry.com says it has 1,832,877 historical documents and family trees with Brague, and 793,114 of them are births, marriages, and deaths.

For a name that I have always thought was not a common one, that’s more Bragues than you can shake a stick at.

I don’t think the Bragues in France rhyme their name with plague. I think if they rhyme it at all they rhyme it with log or cog or jog or hog or possibly even polliwog. Perhaps the Bragues in the southern U.S. rhyme their name with plague to remind the locals not to confuse us with U.S. Confederate General Braxton Bragg (1817-1876), after whom Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was named.


I have been called Bragg and Brah-goo and Brah-gay and even Brah-gah.

If you’re ever in our neck of the woods and feel like dropping in, the troops at Fort Bragg will show you how to do it properly.


Some of them may even help you locate our house:















Just be sure to pronounce our name correctly.

If this post is not to your liking, go find a river and shake a stick at it.

7 comments:

  1. 21 km long? You are much taller than your photo would indicate, M. Brague. Oh, no... that's not YOU.. that's a river. My bad.

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  2. Smiles. And, I know you have a birthday this month - if I have missed it, belated good wishes. If I am in time, I hope you have a wonderful day (and year).

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  3. Whilst I knew that your name 'rhymes with plague', it will only ever make itself heard in my head as rhyming with vague. I do not know why, and it will have no arguing with, but should I ever pass by your way I shall make sure the effort is put in to sound as you prefer to be called. Ina s much as your real name.
    Happy Birthday from these quarters too - Orl Consooooming

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  4. You seem to have been braguing about your family name. Braguing is to be discouraged in the young. We should teach them humility instead. By the way, what is the best way to enter the Brague Valley?

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  5. Pat, and part of my Valley is covered by a Park.

    EC, actually my birthday isn't until next month, so you are ahead of schedule, but all good wishes are received gladly. I hope your day and year are wonderful also, that your toe heals, and that your new bookcase is filled.

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  6. Steampunk Sally, a.k.a. Orl Consooooming, as you live not all that far from Belgium (globally speaking), perhaps you could think of my name as "rhymes with The Hague"....thank you for the happy birthday wishes. See my reply to Elephant's Child for important details.

    Yorkshire Pudding, once again I have apparently deleted your comment inadvertently even whilst in the act of trying to publish it. The answer to your penetrating question, "What is the best way to enter the Brague Valley?" should be obvious: circumspectly.

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  7. Did you know that the Brague Valley is also known as Vallée de la Brague or sometimes Sentier de la Brague? Perhaps you could fly over there as a birthday treat and hike along paths that were once trodden by your lascivious ancestor - King Henry I of England.
    (Trusting that this comment doesn't suffer execution via your cruel delete button).

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