For all the beauty of its language, France is a country blighted by ugly acronyms. A perfect example came to light as part of an inquiry into online music piracy. Having asked for comments, the commission investigating the problem received a joint submission from 12 organisations named Blic, Bloc, Snac, Snep, Spect, ARP, Cemf, Csdem, Sacem, Uspa, Unac and Upfi.

Reminiscent of a roll-call of Santa’s reindeer – “On Blic! On Bloc! On Snac and Snep! Dash away, all!” – this collection of randomly assembled letters is all too representative of the abbreviations found in almost all areas of French life. The workplace is particularly polluted, thanks to CDI and CDD contracts, Urssaf pay deductions and other horrors.