ABSTRACT
Frogs have always been ambiguous, and 'amphibious' is often used as a joky euphemism for 'sexually ambivalent', AC/DC. Like puns, they straddle areas usually kept distinct. Jean-Pierre Brisset extended his initial fascination with frogs to the human body afloat. While serving in the army, Brisset decided to write a swimming manual for the troops. Although Brisset underplays the importance of breathing in his stress on the synchronizing of arms and legs his manual is full of sane tips, including the need for a would-be suicide to weight himself down if he hopes to succeed. Humanity did descend ultimately from some amphibian, and Brisset's fable of frogs anticipating people beats the Genesis myth hollow. Widening out from but still anchored to Brisset, let people see how frogs inhabit the interrelated domains of mythology, folklore and fairy-tales. Frogs lead to humans; the Logos speaks French. People are in an umbilicism, or navel-review, characteristic not only of Brisset but also of his nation.
