Metro Ads

One of my favorite things to do in Paris is to read Metro ads.

By Metro I am referring to the excellent subway system, of course. It is short for Metropolitaine, which means "of the metropolis."

Some ads are lame and predictable but there are a few that are humorous and quite risqué (it is sign of how repressed we are that we use a French word to express that sentiment).

Last holiday season, there was a poster from a Web site that bills itself as a dating service for married people. The service is called Gleeden.com and their byline is "The first extramarital dating site made by women."

While the service was established by an American company, I would be very surprised if they were able to advertise freely in North America. Certainly, not in any public transport systems. Not without a lot of pearl necklace clutching and fainting.

Here, last Christmas they had a poster that said: "Maybe your resolution this year should be to cheat your lover with your husband"

And yesterday, they had this splashed all over the Metro:

The translation is  "Our site will be exceptionally closed on 6 May because one shouldn't cheat" but there is a word play. Tromper is to cheat but se tromper is to make a mistake.

Sex and politics, the two taboos of the Anglo Saxon world proudly on display in Paris.