By raising the question of folk linguistics in the discussion of linguistic phenomena, it is possible to abandon the typically binary approach to norms (descriptive versus prescriptive), and to propose a third term: perception. In France, scientific truth is still defined along very Cartesian lines, and linguistic norms remain monopolized by purism and academic orthodoxy. As a result, perceptive norms has not been allowed to emerge as a field of research. And yet, data drawn from non-academic linguistic discourse could make a considerable contribution to work on linguistic norms and varieties of language. It proves worthy of study not as a naive, pre-scientific effort, but as one possible theory of language—thus causing us to rethink the way the rules of the system actually function, beyond their representations. Intuition, urbane linguistics, folk linguistics, proper noun, perception, folk sociolinguistics.