Do French Cows Moo with an Accent? A Bar, a Playlist, and a Station from the Alps
A French bar, a language slip, and the best station you’ve never heard of.
Even after years of living here, the language trips me up in the funniest places. One night, a simple compliment about a bar’s playlist turned into a full-on conversation about cows, accents, and whether I’d lost my mind.
Barnyard sounds1
I walked into a bar near me, it’s a regular spot. The music caught me right away—funky, a mix of American soul and European grooves—and I thought: this is exactly what New York radio is missing.
To be fair, this spot always has great music on. It’s part of the reason I go there.
So I told the owner how much I liked her playlist.
I expected a quick thank-you, a drink order and done. Instead, I found myself in a back-and-forth about cows, accents, and whether French cows moo differently than American ones. It turned into a full-on mooing contest.
She said she was tuned into Radio Meuh (muhhh), a station from the Alps.
I love Radio Meuh now and listen to them all the time. It’s a great place to discover great music. There’s not a time I listen to it that I’m not writing down songs and artists for later.
The exchange went like this:
Me: “Love the music you play in here.”
Owner: “Aujourd’hui c’est juste Radio Meuh (muhhh).”
Me: “…Radio what?”
Owner: “Meuh!”
Me: “Myeh?”
Owner: “Meuh!”
Me: “Like… Moo?”
Owner: “Meuh! Comme la vache.”
Me: “Myooh?”
Owner: “Meuh! Comme la vache.” (makes cow horn gesture with fingers) “Meuh! Meuh!”
Me: “Moo?”
Ooh la vache
Owner: “Meuh! Oui, exactement. Moo! Meuh! C’est la vache! Are zere no cows in the city?”
Me: “I know cows, okay? Milk the girls, eat the boys, right? Cows!”
« Je connais les vaches, OK ? Traire les filles, manger les garçons, pas vrai ? Les vaches ! »
Owner: (laughs nervously) “Quoi?”
Me: “It’s cows. We do things with them. Veal, milk, cheese.”
Owner: (grimaces, switching to English) “You are… very direct.”
Me: “It’s not me, it’s the cow. Moo.”
I pull up the wrong station on my phone—some Radio Moo in Vermont or something.
Me: “Oui! Radio Moo!”
Owner: “Non! Radio Meuh!”
Me: “Moo!”
Owner: “Meuh!”
Me: “Moo.”
Owner: “Meuhhh!”
Me: “God, we sound insane.”
I finally bring up the right one—Radio Meuh.
Owner: “Oui. Exactement.”
Me: “Myuh!”
Owner: “Non. Mais qui. C’est une super radio.”
I thought this kind of thing would have stopped happening by now.
The track I walked in to was
Sonór Tropicàl Mankoora (2021)
Sonór Tropicàl Mankoora (2021)
A modern retro feel and a slow groove with that keeps circling back on itself. It settles in, great background and soundtrack music. Mankoora is coming out of the fusion jazz scene in Hamburg, Germany and they only have a few tracks, but they’re worth hearing.
Related posts
Living with the Sounds of France: Protecting Rural Life from City Noise Complaints
Sometimes the loudest debates in France aren’t about politics or strikes—they’re about cows, roosters, and frogs.
French Radio and More Serendipity on the road
We’re not moving back to the US. That’s not the point of this piece, but it’s somewhere underneath all of this. We’re getting used to our lives here and I really don’t think people have a sense of how bad things are in the US, at least as I’d measure it by my own personal value system.
French animals don’t “sound” like American ones—at least on paper. Roosters don’t cock-a-doodle-doo, they “cocorico.” Ducks don’t quack, they “coin-coin.” And cows don’t moo, they go “meuh.” Same animals, but I haven’t really practiced a lot of my animal noises since I had a Speak and Spell.
Yes cows have accents. Might look up that station. They do a lot of vache stuff over in France. Crowds roar like cows. And of course laugh like cows. Not so sure about goats and sheep. lol