Can’t really comment on French town names and snuff. My Cajun elders spoke only French unless they had to speak English. I can understand why they weren’t fond of England given their early history; Nova Scotia and all that ancient crap. They were also conversant in Spanish, Caribbean Creole, Choctaw “lite” and some Portuguese whenever the need arose. I use some of their nomenclature, not due to any latent Francophile, cheese-eating-surrender-monkey* tendencies, but out of respect for my elders on that side of the family. It’s what I grew up with and still hold fondly in my memories. *Hat tip to Homer Simpson. =))
@Jari_T: Indeed this is an by the French law prescibed sign for tobaccoshops. I wonder how many French still knows what a Carotte originally is. Jaap Bes.
Recently, and to support my claim that WWI was the very end of snuff in France, I checked out the French wikipedia article on Scaferlati Caporal. It says it grew in popularity during the “tobacco renaissance after WWI”. So no doubts now, WWI was too hard a blow for snuff in France, and perhaps also Italy. Now I wonder what made it disappear in Spain, and why it didn’t disappeared in Germany. Perhaps army rations were of a higher quality?