Silliest French word I learnt so far

[richardg]

Totally ill-disciplined! I did do the Trinity DIP though. And I did do IELTS for 3 years. But that also is a flawed approach. The students could write about carburetors and of course, like your students, needed to know structure or they would not get their 6.0 required to go to university...but it did little for the most important bit, social conversation.

It was during the dip that I decided the key to it was through conversation, like kids...being able to talk to people is uplifting and motivating and encourages further interest in learning.

 

[tqineil]

According to one of my French chums the silliest word in English is Letchworth. He can’t get anywhere near the right pronunciation.

Tell him about Cholmondeley, Barnoldswick or Milngavie

 

[RJohan]

Over to Sweden and our dumb use of anglisisms (hmmm, maybe that's an anglisism?)

When the Sony Walkman came out some people insisted we should have a Swedish word. It was decided on 'Freestyle'!?!?! And it stuck.

 

[eisenach]

Back to the thread title: magnétoscope for video recorder always seemed a bit daft. Courriel for e-mail (French for email !) seems to be gaining traction in certain circles. I always loved K7 as an abreviation for cassette, though.

 

[mansr]

Back to the thread title: magnétoscope for video recorder always seemed a bit daft. Courriel for e-mail (French for email !) seems to be gaining traction in certain circles. I always loved K7 as an abreviation for cassette, though.

What about "internaut"?

 

[mandryka]

Back to the thread title: magnétoscope for video recorder always seemed a bit daft. Courriel for e-mail (French for email !) seems to be gaining traction in certain circles. I always loved K7 as an abreviation for cassette, though.

This word courriel seems to me a real high point of the acadamie francaise -- it's beautiful, much more so than what I hear more frequently, un mail.

Sometimes there are really splendid new words in French -- I love divulgâcher -- not least because of the accent.

 

[eisenach]

What about "internaut"?

I rather like that one. It makes using the internet seem rather adventurous.

Sometimes there are really splendid new words in French -- I love divulgâcher -- not least because of the accent.

I'd not heard that. Wiktionary suggests that the ^ is optional, and that it originated in Québec.

 

[Stunsworth]

When I moved to France my French was virtually non-existent. When I went to France Telecom to arrange a phone and broadband in my flat one of the questions on the form was profession. I got the word wrong, instead of saying ‘informaticien’ (computer bod) I said ‘informateur’ (informer). To her credit the lady filling out my details didn’t react. Perhaps they get a lot of police informers requesting landlines in Paris.

 

[Mike Reed]

Over to Sweden and our dumb use of anglisisms (hmmm, maybe that's an anglisism?)
When the Sony Walkman came out some people insisted we should have a Swedish word. It was decided on 'Freestyle'!?!?! And it stuck.

AngliCism or Anglicisation, Johan, but you meant Swedishisation (Sverige.....?). I'm surprised that globally known model names, let alone those which have been used for anything generically similar, would bother anyone, let alone the logically thinking natives of Sweden.

 

[richardg]

Sometimes there are really splendid new words in French -- I love divulgâcher -- not least because of the accent.

If it means to divulge wastefully, it's cool. But I bet it doesn't mean that, does it.

I've just read that it is a new word from the French Ministry of Words to intend to replace the word spoiler for movies etc. That being the case, I hope it does not catch on.

Hilarious that people are paid in France to do stuff like that.

 

[mandryka]

It means a spoiler (or rather, it's a verb -- spoil.) Before divulgâcher there was no other word, people used (and continue to use) spoiler. Acadamie Francaise tends not to like anglicisms (hence courriel, which they also invented I think.)

Acadamie Francaise is a strange phenomenon for an anglophone. I read somewhere that it goes back to Louis XIV and an attempt to put in place a single unified French language rather than a bunch of mutually incomprehensible local dialects. I think as a result the French have a complex about their own language. Quite often I've heard French people say that they don't speak French very well, and they mean that their grammar and vocabulary and spelling doesn't conform to Academie Francaise norms. You would never hear an Anglophone say anything like that.

Another related phenomenon is the French cult of the dictation. La dictée de Pivot was a sort of regular Sunday afternoon pass-time in families -- there were popular TV programmes where people would discuss how to do them. Bernard Pivot's dictations are really hard -- I can't do them!

 

[Joe Hutch]

That's coz we speak English.

 

[Bob McC]

And we was right all along, in’it?

 

[richardg]

It means a spoiler. Before divulgâcher there was no other word, people used (and continue to use) spoiler. Acadamie Francaise tends not to like anglicisms (hence courriel, which they also invented I think.)

Acadamie Francaise is a strange phenomenon for an anglophone. I read somewhere that it goes back to Louis XIV and an attempt to put in place a single unified French language rather than a bunch of mutually incomprehensible local dialects. I think as a result the French have a complex about their own language. Quite often I've heard French people say that they don't speak French very well, and they mean that their grammar and vocabulary and spelling doesn't conform to Academie Francaise norms. You would never hear an Anglophone say anything like that.

All sounds reasonable in its unreasonableness!

 

[Cheese]

Hilarious that people are paid in France to do stuff like that.

And, I guess, not too badly, if you look how they dress and sit:

https://www.leparisien.fr/resizer/m...com/leparisien/ZRPTJ3CXUMVV5SDWQ7JTLCRW2A.jpg

 

[mansr]

And, I guess, not too badly, if you look how they dress and sit:

https://www.leparisien.fr/resizer/m...com/leparisien/ZRPTJ3CXUMVV5SDWQ7JTLCRW2A.jpg

Hmm, is "resizer" in that URL an English noun or a Frenchified verb?

 

[tones]

Acadamie Francaise is a strange phenomenon for an anglophone. I read somewhere that it goes back to Louis XIV and an attempt to put in place a single unified French language rather than a bunch of mutually incomprehensible local dialects. I think as a result the French have a complex about their own language. Quite often I've heard French people say that they don't speak French very well, and they mean that their grammar and vocabulary and spelling doesn't conform to Academie Francaise norms. You would never hear an Anglophone say anything like that.

Actually somewhat earlier:

http://www.academie-francaise.fr/linstitution/apercu-historique

The French used to hang on for the regular lists of Académie-approved words (Government departments were obliged to follow them). So, no "le Walkman", but le baladeur, no "le Jumbo-Jet" but l'avion gros porteur, or something like that. There was a list dealing with financial transactions that disposed of "le junk-bond" in some odd fashion.

 

[mandryka]

All sounds reasonable in its unreasonableness!

It's worth investigating acadamie francaise. It's full of weird traditions -- they have a special seat, they go to a special restaurant, they carry a sort of sword and an odd gown. A bit like All Souls Oxford in fact.

Male dominated, in fact exclusively male until Marguerite Yourcenar was elected. I think there's a single token black and Arab now. So it's racist and sexist -- I bet there are plenty of homosexuals though. Gay but not queer. And absolutely no representatives of the proletariat.

In fact, it's very much like All Souls.

Oh there's an English immortel -- I forget who, a poet who writes in French.

 

[richardg]

And, I guess, not too badly, if you look how they dress and sit:

https://www.leparisien.fr/resizer/m...com/leparisien/ZRPTJ3CXUMVV5SDWQ7JTLCRW2A.jpg

Haha! They all need putting out to grass. Or be told to go and get a proper job etc.

 

[richardg]

It's worth investigating acadamie francaise. It's full of weird traditions -- they have a special seat, they go to a special restaurant, they carry a sort of sword and an odd gown. A bit like All Souls Oxford in fact.

Male dominated, in fact exclusively male until Marguerite Yourcenar was elected. I think there's a single token black and Arab now. So it's racist and sexist -- I bet there are plenty of homosexuals though. Gay but not queer. And absolutely no representatives of the proletariat.

In fact, it's very much like All Souls.

Oh there's an English immortel -- I forget who, a poet who writes in French.

I just tilted my monitor right to my business partner Gilles and asked him what he thinks of them...His response: 'bunch of ****ing pricks wasting our money.'