Stealing from the French
English has the annoying habit of taking words from other languages and twisting their meaning, usually in a subtle but drastic way. As a result, if you actually speak any of those languages, you can’t rely on this knowledge to make any assumptions about the English clone.
French is a frequent victim of this kind of word plunder. When a totally boring and mundane French word pops up in English, it suddenly takes on an intellectual and pretentious allure.
| word | simple meaning in French | new meaning in English |
|---|---|---|
| facile | easy | overly easy, superficial |
| noir | black, dark | characterized by a bleak urban gangster setting, cynical characters and contrasty lighting |
| auteur | author, writer | a filmmaker who has creative control over their movies |
| soirée | evening, night | a fancy social gathering at a private residence |
| chauffeur | driver | a person hired to drive a privately owned car |
| chaise | chair | a long chair for reclining |
This is a great post and list. Might I convince you to add:
Douche (just a shower in French versus the short form for douche bag the insult. I’ve taken to saying sac de shower when I hear that.)
Femme (just woman in French but a subcategory of woman in English, one that is particularlly “femmy”/effiminate.)
genre (e.g. genre de movie/literature in English versus being used to mean type and gramatical gender)
Adieu (literally “to God” inplying you will not see the person again in French versus being used to say goodbye in other contexts in English.)
Papa (dad, but I was informed by someone from Texas that it meant grand-father 0_o otherwise I hear it used by upper-middle class folks to give greater respect to their father… ironic given that in French you then use père rather than the informal papa)
Touché (touched but used in English to mean that someone made a particularly striken point, especially if it was one against you.)
Well I could go on like you could have no doubt, those were just the ones that along with déjà vu and à propos I hear most commonly, to the point that I often which I could strike them from English.) But using them in English essays did earn me a higher mark in high school… when I was in ESL lol
Ha ha, sac de shower!
There are similar examples in other languages as well. For example, the Russian for barber/hairdresser is parikmakher (парикмахер), from German Parückenmacher “wig-maker”. However, the German use a French word Friseur for a barber, while the French themselves use another word, coiffeur. So, the Russians use a German word, the Germans use a French word, and the French use another French word!
The way in which English borrows words from other languages has been described as:
“We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Nicoll#.22The_Purity_of_the_English_Language.22)
As for why English does this so much with French words, aside from England and France being neighbours one explanation is that at least some of it goes back to the period (centuries) following the Norman conquest, when the English upper classes spoke French and so the French words came to be used for the “posher” meaning.
A few precisions:
‘noir’ is also a ‘genre’ in cinema or literature. The color is just one of the meanings.
‘Soiree’ is also used to speak about a fancy social gathering happening in the evening. Can be private or not. In reality, the standard ‘evening’ meaning can be better translated by ‘soir’, which is the masculine word for ‘soiree’.
‘chauffeur’ is indeed a driver, but also the name of the professional driver…
You’re making here a valid point, but twisting the meaning of french words to illustrate it is probably a bit too much:)
Cheers.
J.
as for all the French words finishing with ….tion at the end are the same in English, and have the same definition
Oh, but isn’t this mixture of languages quite wonderful?! It reflects so beautifully the history of cultural exchange which has never been only the result of conquest and war, but also of trade interest! And by the way: Since my French is not overwhelming, English is a great help for me to speak Italian – especially the verbs which I keep on forgetting I often transfer from the English, give them an Italian Suffix – and it works!