Did you ever think a street could be named after…well…waste? In medieval Paris, sanitation wasn’t exactly a priority. The stench must have been overwhelming, especially on a street named, believe it or not, “Ru Maldroit”.
Now, Ru Maldroit doesn’t directly translate to “street of waste”. But it’s intriguingly close to other medieval Parisian street names like “rue Merdeux” or “rue Merdiere” which literally translate to, let’s just say, streets of filth. This gives us a little peek into the less glamorous side of Parisian history. These names were a pungent reflection of the reality of the time.