Tête à Toto
The tête à Toto is a French typographical design and children's game, well known to French schoolchildren, depicted to the right. It consists of the equation "0+0=0", written with the first two "0"s for eyes, the "+" for a nose, the "=" for a mouth, and the final "0" surrounding, as a stylized face or skull.
It is drawn while reciting:
Zéro plus zéro égale
la tête à Toto
Translated:
Zero plus zero equals
the head of Toto (Toto's head)
As his head equals zero, it means that his intelligence is null.
The name, or character, of Toto is a common stock character in French culture; he is the generic child used in jokes ("Toto asks his mom..."). See Blague de Toto (Toto joke).
Other uses
The term is also used as a circumlocution for "zero", and in prostitution slang for a prostitute, or rather prospective prostitute, who has so far had zero clients; see references at Wiktionary.
See also
- Henohenomoheji, similar typographical face in Japanese
- Mondgesicht, similar typographical face in German, consisting of “Punkt, Punkt, Komma, Strich”:
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