Someone on rec.arts.sf.fandom wondered whether anyone had suggested renaming the chess opening called the French Defence yet. (1. e4 e6, or 1. P-K4 P-K3 for those of you who remember the old English Descriptive notation.)
I did a little digging through my library and found out that the name "French Defence" is probably due to George Walker noting in his 1846 _Treatise on Chess_ that, "With French players, the King's-Pawn-One opening [as it was called then] is especially in vogue."
Walker also wrote of it: "I have allowed that this form of beginning is safe for the second player; so is fighting from behind a tree, and the one is exactly the type of the other; cowardly and mean in spirit, aiming to lie in wait, rather than do battle in a 'fair stricken field.'" So it would be amusingly ironic if some jingo decided to rename it now.
It occurs to me that accusing the French of cowardice over Iraq is more than normally stupid. If they were cowards who believed Saddam was dangerous but were afraid to fight him themselves, they'd be delighted to let the US do it. "Let's you and him fight" is the essence of cowardice. But instead, they did everything they could think of to stop the US from starting the war.
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