SADLY I speak little French despite the best efforts of Charlie ‘Greasy’ Graham at Nunthorpe Grammar School in the early 1950s.
It would appear that Emily Flanagan also has difficulty with the language as in her article on the Tour OF Yorkshire cycle race she refers to the “Cote de Garrowby Hill” and the “Cote de Goathland” (The Press, April 27).
I happen to know my local geography and those two places are quite some distance from the sea.
In the evening, watching Look North, Harry Gration, trying to appear cool and worldly wise, also used the word “cote” when referring to Garrowby Hill. And he was educated at St Peter’s School.
I am sure someone from the cycling community, Paul Hepworth perhaps, would confirm that the word they are looking for is “col”, as in Col de Tourmalet, a famous mountain climb on the Tour de France.
I wonder what Emily Flanagan and Harry Gration order when they visit a French restaurant? They might get l’escargot right for snails, but would they get them on toast?
Peter Roberts, Thornhills, Haxby, York
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