Translated literally le carnet rose means the pink newspaper notices.
So, what is the link with baby animals?
In the past few months Asson Zoo, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, has reported births of rare animals including dozens of lemurs, marsupials and an ocelot.
The zoo’s director, Luc Lorca, told France 3 the high birth rate among endangered species was due to “knowledge and experience” among zoo staff.
The French press responded to the happy news with headlines reading “Births – carnet rose – at Asson Zoo!”
Le carnet rose refers to the section of French newspapers that recent births would typically be reported in.
This means anyone appearing in le carnet rose has recently become a parent.
Some publications even refer to a carnet rose for baby girls and a carnet bleu (blue notices) for baby boys.
And these are not the only carnets – there is also le carnet noir (black notices) for deaths, and le carnet blanc (white notices) for marriages.
Some English-language newspapers would group these under family announcements – but you might also hear the colloquial phrase ‘Hatched, matched and despatched’ for births, marriages and death notices used.
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