Warren Perrin was born in Henry and went off to college at ULL and law school at LSU. His law firm has offices in Erath and Lafayette, among other area communities.

He’s known for his work to preserve and promote the French language and culture in Louisiana, including serving as the President of CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), for his work with the Acadian Museum in Erath (worth a visit if you’ve not been there) and with many other projects.

Warren recently passed along a suggestion from New Iberian Lou Jarrell, a local artist who is also interested in efforts to promote Louisiana’s French culture.

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Lou noted that the media, along with locals, often mangle the French in our area, like calling le Triomphe (lea-tree-omphe) things like la Triomphe or les Triomphe or calling it Ver-rot School Road instead of Ver-row School Road.

Lou had other suggestions, like asking local restaurants to consider using French under the English description of items on their menus. And like the Irish with St. Patrick’s Day and Mexicans with Cinco de Mayo, why don’t more restaurants and other establishments pay attention to and promote and celebrate Bastille Day?

Lou says they do so in Kaplan but that’s the only city he knows of in Louisiana.

How about it? We hear people talk about our local French culture and ties to things French.

Are we doing enough to promote and celebrate this important part of our community and its heritage?

There’s no shortage of items in the news related to President Obama’s and Congress’ ideas about health care reform.

A Sweet Talk reader sent me the “Top 10 Indicators that your Employer has changed to Obama’s Health Care Plan.”

Among those signs:

• Your annual breast exam will now be done at Hooters.

• Directions to your doctor’s office include, “Take a left when you enter the trailer park.”

• The tongue depressor your doctor uses tastes faintly of Fudgesicle

• The only item listed under Preventative Care is “an apple a day.”

• You find out “The patient is responsible for 200 percent of out-of-network charges” is not a typo.

• Your Prozac prescription now comes in different colors with little Ms on them.

• The primary care physician in your plan is wearing the pants you gave to Goodwill last month.

A Sweet Talk reader sent me a list of what I can best describe as groaners. Read ’em and you’ll see.

• Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other, “Does this taste funny to you?”

• What do you a call a fish with no eyes? A fsh!

• Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says, “Dam!”

• A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm. He says to the bartender, “A beer please, and one for the road.”

• Did you hear about the two antennas that met on a roof, fell in love and got married? The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.

Will Chapman is publisher of The Daily Iberian.