A review article by Valdman in SSLA 27, pp. 441–463, contains the following paragraph:
For example, Parkvall (2000) attributed compounds such as caca nez “snot” (nose dirt) and caca yeux “rheum” (eye dirt) to African languages, yet these also occur in the IO [= Indian Ocean]. The choice of doigt de pied “toe” (finger of the foot) and trou de nez “nostril” (hole of the nose) is even less felicitous given that these are widely used in vernacular French. (p. 452)
Valdman (2005) does not provide a page reference, but the only passage in Parkvall (2000) where caca nez is mentioned is on page 113, where I say the following (emphasis added):
Much of what may look African in Creole semantics may […] well be but an indirect manifestation of former Pidginhood, which may coincide with the semantics of the input languages. Thus, the concept of ‘toe’ is expressed as foot-finger or fingerfoot in [a few creoles], but although this is also the case of [some African languages], foot-finger is also a way of saying ‘toe’ that could predictably be invented on the spot by anybody not knowing any other word. The same applies to the compounds mouth water ‘saliva’ and eye water ‘tears’ (both extremely common both in Atlantic Creoles and in West African languages), and perhaps also to the charming caca nez ‘snot’, caca yeux ‘rheum, dirt in the eyes’, caca z'oreilles ‘ear wax’ and caca les dents ‘food stuck between the teeth after a meal’, found in several FCs [= French Creoles].
Admittedly, I was not aware at the time that doigt de pied was common in French; however, I cannot see any way of interpreting the preceding quote in the way that Valdman does. On the contrary, what it does say is precisely the opposite of what Valdman attributes to me—namely, that there is no reason to see these constructions as calques on African languages. Additionally, my book contains no mention of Valdman's last example, trou de nez. I have not claimed this Creole phrase to be the result of African influence in any of my other works, nor would I ever dream of doing so.
