English is weird! » French http://englishisweird.com Clever tricks to conquer the quirks of English Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:38:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Stealing from the French http://englishisweird.com/stealing-from-the-french/ http://englishisweird.com/stealing-from-the-french/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:00:41 +0000 admin http://englishisweird.com/?p=20 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
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