Paris is in the grip of panic over bedbugs
Lesson summary
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where JR and I help you upgrade your English with stories about current events and trending topics. Every episode of Plain English starts with a story—something interesting going on in the world. And in the second half, we show you how to use an English expression.
Today’s story might creep you out: They were first seen in a movie theater. Then, someone saw them on the Métro. Two French schools were closed after an infestation. Calls to fumigators are on the rise. A legislator has proposed a national fumigation service.
France is in the grip of bedbug panic.
The expression is so perfect for this topic: “creep you out.” This is one of those expressions—I thought I knew what it meant, but then I tried to explain it, and it was harder than I expected. “Creep you out” is the expression. And we have a quote of the week. Let’s get going.
Bedbug panic in Paris
Bedbugs are small insects that feed on human blood, usually at night. The most common place for them to live, naturally, is where they can access human skin, and where they can stay alive when people are not present. That, often, is in or near a bed—hence the name. They live in mattresses, curtains, carpets, and in cracks in the walls. They can live in children’s toys, like stuffed animals. They can also live in furniture, like a sofa or fabric chairs in public places.
Bedbugs are visible to the naked eye : they are usually between four and five millimeters wide, and reddish brown. And they reproduce quickly: a female bedbug can lay up to ten eggs per day.
Once you have them, it’s very difficult to eradicate bedbugs. Every type of fabric needs to be washed in hot water: curtains, clothes, sheets, and blankets. Mattresses and furniture can be washed with a steam cleaner. The vacuum cleaner can help get bugs and eggs out of wooden furniture, cracks in baseboards, and on electronics. If all that doesn’t work, a fumigation service can help with chemicals to eradicate them. All in, this can cost hundreds of dollars and take several days.
Now, if that doesn’t creep you out enough, here’s something that will really keep you up at night: bedbugs are becoming more and more resistant to the chemicals used to kill them.
Great. So let’s go back to France. Bedbugs don’t travel on their own. But they—and their eggs—can travel in luggage, clothes, and shoes. Bedbug infestations, therefore, are more common in dense areas, where a lot of people are living close together. You sit on a friend’s couch, you come home and go to bed—that’s how they spread. And the more travel people do, the more likely it is that bedbugs will spread from city to city.
Parisians are worried about bedbugs. Images and videos on social media show bedbugs on the Métro, on long-distance SNCF trains, in movie theaters, hospitals, and schools. Calls to fumigators are increasing. A legislator stood up in the French parliament with a bedbug in a vial and demanded a national, free fumigation service.
Just one problem: As one fumigator puts it, three out of four bedbug calls he gets are not bedbugs after all. And the transportation ministry says that it investigates all reports of bedbugs on the trains—and again, none have had bedbugs. Real bugs, yes; bedbugs, no.
This presents a problem. Bedbugs are real. People should know what they are and what to do if they have them. Bedbugs are in Paris. They are in the rest of France. They are in London, New York, and the big cities of the world.
But they are nowhere near as prevalent as they seem on social media and on television. France—or any country—would have a normal level of bedbug infestation, especially after a travel season.
But in the age of social media, and with anxiety heightened, any real case of bedbugs is held up as proof of a much bigger problem. Two schools were closed due to bedbugs recently—but they were hundreds of miles from Paris, the epicenter of the bedbug panic.
So France has a balancing act ahead of the 2024 Olympics: on the one hand , they want to educate people and help anyone truly affected by bedbugs; on the other hand , they don’t want the city to unfairly get a reputation for being unsafe or unsanitary. No denial, but also no hysteria, as one minister put it.
No hysteria—good luck with that in the age of social media.
I’ll make you a deal. If anyone listening has a flight to Paris and a hotel room for the Olympics that they don’t want to take, feel free to give it to me. I’ll take it off your hands and save you the worry about coming home with bedbugs.
Quote of the Week
Here’s a good quote for today. “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” To linger is to stay around for a while. People often interpret this to mean that knowledge can come quickly, but wisdom is about the accumulation of knowledge and experience.
This quote is from Alfred Tennyson, a poet. “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
Great stories make learning English fun
