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The colloquial noun Froggy-land, also Froggyland, is a humorous appellation for France, a country in western Europe.
—Synonym: oo-la-la land.
The noun Froggyland occurs, for example, in the following from Hot Gossip, published in Jackie (London, England) of Saturday 1st October 1983 [page 18, column 3]:
Paul Weller and Mick Talbot of The Style Council are about to become real men-in-a-suitcase!
The talented duo plan to record a series of four-track EPs all in different parts of the world, in the hope of swapping cultures and ideas.
Paris was their first choice—mainly because they felt a bit lazy, and it’s easy to get to!
But after Froggyland, well, who knows—they could take their music to deepest Denmark or maybe even darkest Devon!
As a humorous appellation for France, the noun Froggy-land, also Froggyland, is from the noun Froggy, designating a French person.
However, the noun froggy land (with lower-case initials) originally referred to any wetland—here, froggy is an adjective meaning: inhabited by, or full of, frogs.
The following, for example, is from A Woman’s Walks. No. CXXV. A River Carnival, by ‘Véra Tsaritsyn’ (pen name of the Irish author Gertrude Elizabeth Campbell (née Blood – 1857-1911), published in The World. A Journal for Men and Women (London, England) of Wednesday 15th August 1894 [page 23, column 2]:
—“the City of Dreams” designates Venice; “this froggy land of dampness set in green” refers to the place where the author lives, on the River Thames, in England:
Memories of past nights and days in the City of Dreams, nights of sapphire mystery, days scintillating with golden radiance, make our pulses beat once more as they seldom do in this froggy land of dampness set in green.
Likewise, in quotation 1 below, although the noun froggy land is used in reference to France in the text, the formulation “any dirty froggy land” implies a generic use of this noun.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences that I have found of the noun Froggy-land, also Froggyland, used to designate France:
1-: From Walter Deverell. A Domestic Tale (London: Saunders and Otley, 1838), by the Scottish author Catharine Booth (1816-1882) [volume 2, chapter 1, page 23]:
“I’d as soon walk as far into the Thames, at Blackfriars bridge, as I’d ever think of setting my foot on French land; so that’s ay and no at the first; and, what’s more, I think every one who would leave his own native country, to visit any dirty froggy land, in the whole universe, deserves to be kicked back to it.”
2-: From the column Exmouth “Mems.”, by ‘Beacon’, published in The Devon Evening Express (Exeter, Devon, England) of Tuesday 8th July 1890 [page 1, column 6]:
Although yesterday was a boisterous day, it did not prevent an interesting match being arranged by a retired southern-going captain between two old Salts, one also a southern-going and the other a steamboat coaster, who has been in the habit of bringing horses and ducks from Froggy-land.
3-: From the title of the following cartoon, published in Judy: The London Serio-Comic Journal (London, England) of Wednesday 12th August 1891 [page 80, column 2]:
—This cartoon depicts an Englishman standing on a beach, observing a bathing-cabin from afar, with an optical instrument:
“THAT’S HOW THEY DO IT IN FROGGYLAND.”
English Tourist.—Hang these French bathing gowns! They’re worn so beastly long that, dam’ me, if I can tell whether it’s a man or a woman.
4-: From The Desire of the Moth (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1895), by ‘Capel Vane’ (pen name of the British novelist Ellen Allport – 1863-1948) [volume 2, chapter 3: At the Abbey, page 57]:
The heir to all this heritage of dignity paid but little attention to Colonel King’s discourse, and wandered off with Lady Margaret, who was tapping the armour smartly with her riding-whip and making jocose remarks about the figures of his ancestors. Presently they went up together into the little balcony—a balcony used for minstrels in the olden time—and stood there leaning over the balustrade and talking together in low voices. Lady Margaret was quizzing every one and everything through her eyeglass; he was listening and looking amused.
“Ah,” said Colonel King, looking up at them, “that’s the best place, after all. You get the tout ensemble, as they call it in Froggy-land.”
5-: From the column “Twilight’s” Opinion, published in The Flash (Hull, Yorkshire, England) of Saturday 20th June 1896 [recto side, column 2]—The Flash was a one-page horse-racing newspaper:
Of the Royal Ascot meeting of 1896 everyone—except, perhaps, the sportsman from “froggy-land”—will cherish memories of—as the Americans would say—“a real good time” amongst the sport of Kings.
6-: From a letter by ‘Doughy’, published in The Bury Free Press (Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England) of Saturday 25th September 1897 [page 5, column 6]:
Thought I’d let you know how much we enjoyed the Master Bakers’ Association outing last Thursday, at the Bakery Exhibition at the Agricultural Hall. […] We wanted to play at balls, but couldn’t manage it, as although the constable was there, he’d forgotten to bring his staff, so we had pettit [sic] pains instead, as they call them in Froggyland.
