Adrian Leeds Nouvellettre®
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What’s in a Name?

Photo of beautiful red roses in a garden

The former logo for Parler Paris Nouvelletres®

Do we look a little different? No “Parler Paris” at the top, you ask?

Nope, but it’s still me, Adrian Leeds. We’re making a change and you’re the first to know about it. The Parler Paris and Parler Nice “Nouvellettres®” are becoming just one: the Adrian Leeds Nouvellettre®!

Don’t worry. I’ll still be writing about Paris and Nice, the rest of France and even beyond, but as of today…all under one name. The word “Nouvellettre®” is a made-up French word taken from the English “Newsletter” coined by my dear friend and author, Timothy Jay Smith. I cannot take credit for his clever wordsmithing, blurted out as a joke over dinner one evening many moons ago. I liked it; it stuck; and then I trademarked it. So, here we are.

Why the change and why so suddenly?

Logo for the former Parler Parlor

In March of 1998, I started a French-English Conversation Group named “Parler Parlor” with a partner who was the Director of Berlitz Champs Elysées. At the same time, I started an internal “communiqué” called “Parler Paris” for the members of the group. That was the beginning of this “Nouvellettre®,” now in its 23rd year of existence. The word, “Parler” became the foundation for all of what ensued, including “Parler Nice,” “Parler Paris Apartments” (when we were actively representing short-term rental apartments in Paris) and two different French companies I’ve owned, one named “Parler France” and my current company, “Parler France Properties.”

Now, suddenly this year, along comes a social media outlet from out of the blue who decided that “Parler” is a pretty cool name…except that this social media outlet is the kind with which I would not like to be associated. This new alt-tech microblogging and social networking service is an alternative to Facebook and Twitter, but it has a substantial user base of conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing extremists.

Screenshot of the Parler app

Nope, that Parler is definitely not our Parler and has zero to do with us. Theirs is not even pronounced the same as ours even though it is also taken from the French word “Parler,” meaning “to speak.” in French it is pronounced “par-lay” and theirs, an anglicized version, is pronounced like “par-lor.”

Parler means to speak in French

There has already been some confusion with us on social media forcing us to have to defend ourselves. Trying to fight them for use of our name would take a team of lawyers and a whole lot of money, so we’ve decided that it was time to say “adieu” to the Parler brand once and for all.

Au revoir Parler! Here’s what you can expect:

  • Readers of Parler Paris and Parler Nice will now be receiving the new “Adrian Leeds Nouvellettre®”! The content won’t change. It could be about Paris, Nice or anywhere or anything related to France! You’ll receive it every Monday and Wednesday, just like always.
  • The archives of Parler Paris and Parler Nice will still be accessible on our website, but there will be a new page for the Nouvellettres®.
  • You will only receive the Nouvellettres® for which you subscribed and your email address will never be shared with any third parties. You can unsubscribe at any time.
  • Adrian Leeds Group logo for French Property InsiderIf you are subscribed to our real estate Nouvellettre®, French Property Insider, then you will still receive it (with no changes to its name) on Thursdays; 50 issues a year. If you are not subscribed, then you might wish to now!

Meanwhile, you aren’t going to miss a beat and nothing really has changed…except the name. And as we all know (thanks to Shakespeare’s own brilliant wordsmithing), “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

A rose by any other name by William Shakespeare

Thank you for subscribing and supporting our efforts. Do share our stories and Nouvellettres® with your Francophile friends and please continue to let us hear your thoughts and comments!

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds smelling the roses at the Bagatelle GardensAdrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group®

 

Adrian smelling the roses at the Bagatelle Gardens

Adrian Leeds Group postage stamp

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7 Comments

  1. Mim Golub Scalin on January 25, 2021 at 9:29 am

    Wow, I hadn’t even thought about this name situation, but whew, you made the change.Thanks for your continued communication. Love the information you share.

  2. Amy Blackstone on January 25, 2021 at 11:18 am

    Excellent decision to change the name. I’ve been concerned about the possible confusion from this group, which doesn’t even know how to pronounce “parler”.
    I love all your postings, Adrian! I first “met” you when listening to Talia Carner, and have been following you ever since.

  3. P. Foster on January 25, 2021 at 12:39 pm

    Bonjour,
    Did you happen to read the BBC News article about Dinner with Jim? Fantastic tribute. It was posted on the Sunday BBC app version of the news. Bonne journée!

  4. Nancy Norton on January 25, 2021 at 2:14 pm

    Bravo Adrian…you continue to evolve. Wishing you success in 2021.

  5. Nancy Volk on January 25, 2021 at 3:15 pm

    Your recent piece about Jim Haynes passing, we had a wonderful time visiting with him & the others in April 0f 2012. So glad I had read about him in the NY Times & sent an email to him. Fond memory of that trip to Paris among our others. It was fun ! Rest in Peace Jim.

  6. Handlebar Henry on January 26, 2021 at 12:37 am

    My wife have enjoyed watching you..thought I would comment on something. You discussed the new Parler type of social media platform and I agree with you..I think it might have been stopped. Anyway..one of my hobbies ..I own a lot of domain names and two of them are parisiswatching dot come and franceiswatching dot com. I also own about 282 other ones. More if curious. Looking forward to more episodes. Oh..I wanted to mention..my wife and I would love to visit Paris..our problem is that she is disabled so it’s far more difficult for us to travel and of course covid causes other issues as well. Anyway…we hope one day we can visit and perhaps stay for an extended time…a month or two. I think I recall that you were from New Orleans..we live about an hour to the east over on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I’ll close for now. Best wishes from us, Jane & Henry

  7. Lee Rice on January 30, 2021 at 12:26 pm

    I am so glad that you made this change. The thought of this part of the name had crossed my mind. So enjoy your blog and I do love Paris.

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