l'inhalateur

I was racking my brains, trying to remember the French term for the device—which I've only ever seen in France—used by the French for unblocking their stuffed noses. I Googled a clumsy French description: plastic thing you fill with hot water, then breathe the steam to unstuff nose. But Google's AI understood what I meant and directed me to a whole page of images of the device I was thinking of.

un inhalateur

The French term for this is an inhalateur, or an "inhaler," although the English term has different connotations ranging from Vicks Vapo-Rub to that bullet-shaped mini-dildo that you cram up your nose and inhale through to unblock your sinuses. Further research shows we Americans do have roughly the same device as the inhalateur, often called a "steam inhaler" or a "sinus inhaler." I've just never seen it used in the States.

My first encounter with the French inhaler dates back to my first-ever trip to France in 1986. I must have caught a cold or something because when I told my French family I was suffering from symptoms and had a bit of a stuffy nose, they whipped out the inhalateur, filled it with boiling water, directed me to stick my nose into the flared cone, and told me to just breathe. Worked like a charm. In that same session, they brought out French aspirin, which came in big, flat, coin-sized discs called comprimés ("compressed," but it's a noun) that worked just like Alka-Seltzer, i.e., effervescent tablets. I learned a lot about French culture that day.

I'm thinking of buying an inhalateur. I suppose I could jury-rig one if it came to that, but most of the stuff I MacGyver ends up looking pretty ugly. Meantime, I'll see what I can do with my trusty-dusty neti pot. A little nasal irrigation never hurt anyone.*

__________

*I just tried looking up "steam inhaler" in English on Coupang, and I had to laugh: Korea has steam inhalers, but they're sold here as skin-care products. Ha!