A reader pointed out that Nadine Morano, the French junior minister for family affairs who recently misspoke (or was “mis-heard”) about French people of North African descent, has been chronically “misunderstood”.

A few years ago, Morano was interviewed on a morning news show. The discussion is best described as combative. As soon as she was introduced, Morano contested accounts that, during the presidential campaign, she had infiltrated herself and imposed herself as a speaker a rally for rival candidate Ségolène Royal. For Morano, “journalists will say anything”, even though, in this case, Morano had been filmed by journalists, whose package was later featured in a prime-time news program.

Morano’s interview was posted on the web, and viewers commented. One of the viewers was Dominique Broueilh, a mother of three from Dax (with a name remarkably rich in vowels). Broueilh’s comment was: “Hou, la menteuse“, or “liar”.

Was Broueilh questioning Morano’s truthfulness? Not really. Broueilh was actually commenting on Morano’s debating tactics, which Broueilh compared to a song by Dorothée, a French singer popular with children (and some dads) thirty years ago. In her hit, “Hou, la menteuse“, Dorothée plays a teenager teased by her little brother about a love interest, which interest Dorothée repeatedly but unconvincingly denies.

The humor was lost on Morano. The junior minister made a criminal complaint under an 1881 law on press freedom and its limits. The police tracked down Broueilh and wanted to question her. Broueilh talked to the press. The paper Sud-Ouest reported on the case, and others repeated the report. Morano backed down, again claiming to have been misunderstood and insisting that she obviously had not wanted to act against Broueilh.

Amidst all these misunderstandings, it will not come as a surprise that Morano has been misunderstood in other contexts. For example, after having spoken out against violent video games, Morano invited the press for a photo op at her home, where they witnessed her family playing the very video game against which she had spoken. In a subsequent video, Morano shows familiarity with the game, especially that it depicts women being raped and murdered.