The expression "so ghetto", meaning low-class or trashy, has crept into the vernacular and has become a Paris Hilton catch phrase and a hip hop song, as well as the headline of several opinion pieces about Newt Gingrich.

The phrase is discussed in a new book. Middle class kids are embracing the ghetto mindset - "Ho" and "pimp" Halloween costumes for toddlers, etc.

Heard a comprehensive NPR story on the topic a few weeks ago:

http://tinyurl.com/ytn42h

Methinks KimikoPi is a leg-puller.

whatever.

Just for the record, according to the 2003 Global Airport Passenger Satisfaction Study, the most efficient airports are: FRA, DEN, MSP, LAS and AMS.
European airports with below average ratings are: LGW, LHR, MAD and CDG.

If memory serves, the word 'ghetto' originated in Venice, where it described the area in which the Jewish population was ordered to live back in the Middle Ages. The area of Venice in question apparently contained an iron industry involving some kind of foundry, for which the word in Italian is 'gheta/ghetta' or some similar.

Because the size of the area was fixed but the population living there was not, living conditions soon became quite crowded. Perhaps this explains why, once the word jumped beyond Venice, it came to describe crowded living conditions in general.

No idea when it started being used as an adjective, but my guess is that the OP is asking why the airport is so congested.

FYI, there is no three hour minimum between connections at CDG. I made a 50 minute connection last year with time to spare.

I can't stand Paris Hilton...and I don't mean the hotel. I've never had a problem at CDG, actually love it simply because it's in France.

I'm surprised at the number of comments about having to take a bus to get to the terminals at CDG. This seems to me quite common at most of the airports I've been to recently - Frankfurt, Toronto, even Toulouse, an attractive smaller airport which we much prefer to CDG.

When I flew through CDG in September the gate actually smelled like a sewer. Not my favorite airport by a long shot, and I can't believe 1 hour is a 'legal' connection, but it seems that it is. I would never fly through there transatlantic transferring to intra-Europe without a 3 hour connection. As a matter of fact, I'd pretty much want a 3 hour connection at just about any airport where I was arriving from across the ocean.

a ghetto is an area, usually within a city, in which members of a particular cultural, ethnic, religious or national group live in high concentration, whether by choice or by force.

You know we land at CDG and are so happy to be in Paris I never notice the airport.
I am too busy switching into my "French mode". I am thinking ahead to that first espresso, baguette, glass of wine, hunk of foie gras, sight of the Eiffel Tower. I am looking at the peolple, listening to the language, reading the signs thinking how bloody lucky we are to be able to travel and to be back in this wonderful city/country.
I guess that happens and you are retired and wishing that you had found Paris about 30 years earlier.
Going home I am depressed but excited to see the grand-kids again.

I'm with you robjame, except for the grandkids part! :)

Another here who never noticed. Always so excited to be there.

ditto,
I'll put up with CDG to be in Paris or any airport near New York just for the excitement of the first glimpse of those fabulous cities.

robjame, Cameron, coccinelle, and nbujic:

I feel the same way, but that's because we land there for Paris. For connections, it's said to be one of the worst in the world.

I land to pick up our car and head to Provence and across France.

A long time ago I asked friends in the Region of Veneto what there version of a ghetto was. They explained that is was where a certain group of people be it ethnic and/or religious tended to gather and lived. They were quite surprised that here in the US the word ghetto had a negative overtone.

Well, CDG's certainly not my favorite airport in the world, but it's certainly not the worst I've been through, either. I'll take it over Philly anyday.

And I completely agree with the " who cares? I'm back in Paris!" notion. No delay or other minor nuisance at CDG is going to quell my exuberance at being "back home in France."

And 3-hour connection? Consider yourself lucky! I've had plenty of connections under an hour at CGD. So go ahead, whine! <<shrug>>

Here is a site that ratesbest and worst airports.

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/bestof.htm

CGD came in 9th.
O'Hare came in 3rd, and I thought pure volume would have to do with that but not so.

Here is a site that rates best and worst airports.

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/bestof.htm

CGD came in 9th.
O'Hare came in 3rd, and I thought pure volume would have to do with that but not so.