True English

... a word I already saw but I'd forgotten: a tad means a little; a bit, a few...

... a word I already saw but I'd forgotten: a tad means a little; a bit, a few...

Tx for teaching a new word Gérard !

You're welcome Muriel.

Tad - Sorry, I forgot to say: it is American.
Tis also used for a child (=Fr bambin).

Another word I met today; I knew it but I'd never used it for years: to soar means to rise sharply.
I was used to preferring to rocket but I'll try to go back to to soar.

Another word I met today; I knew it but I'd never used it for years:

Neither did I and it is very useful to come across it again.

Howdy.
A friend of mine, Elsa -born in Toulouse- is now living in Australia...

A bloody very nice girl I worked with a few years ago...
She went to Australia for the Olympics and took advantage of the event to get a job in a famous hotel in order to visit this unknown part of the world, welcome the French athlets, teams and tourists, and master English.

She met an Aussie boyfriend.
She came back to Paris with the boyfriend.

She got married, then they went to Singapore for a few years before settling in Sydney.
She is now a mother of 2 cute girlies.

I continue to discuss with Elsa via social networks.
Today she posted photos from Melbourne with the words: "We had a ball today!", which puzzled me.

Thanks Elsa.

So
"To have a ball" means to have big fun (Fr s'amuser comme un fou/une folle).

Ball -

There're several vaious meanings, several expressions around "ball".
Take a thorough look especially to learn what to avoid: as often in English, the word is very tricky.

> "We had a ball today!", which puzzled me.

"Puzzle" doesn't have the same meaning in English and in French.

What the French call "puzzle" is a "jigsaw puzzle".
In En a puzzle is:
- a mystery
- a game with a bit of difficulty e.g. crossword puzzle, jigsaw puzzle

-- "to puzzle" means a bit more than to surprise (Fr déconcerter)
-- "to puzzle over" means to think (in order to understand)
-- "to puzzle out something/to puzzle something out" means to guess

Gérard "to have the time of our lives" could also translate "to have a ball". "To enjoy ourselves" very much is far too common isn't it ?

Yes Muriel, there are -such as in French- lots of possible expressions.

Gérard a écrit:-- "to puzzle" means a bit more than to surprise (Fr déconcerter)
-- "to puzzle over" means to think (in order to understand)
-- "to puzzle out something/to puzzle something out" means to guess

il like "chassés croisés" (when we translate English phrasal verbs into French the English postposition is the French verb and the verb is the phrase of manner ). here puzzle is the phrase of manner
To puzzle over =>faire très attention en se posant des questions
To puzzle out=>sortir quelque chose en se posant des questions;
Do you think my explanation is far-fetched ?

... not the first time I meet this in English: a different pronunciation to distinguish the noun from the verb
Associate as a noun doesn't have the same pronunciation as as a verb (a diphtong for the verb) - LOL see the earphone icons? I can play them


"Big" difference b/w the noun breath and the verb to breathe:

Yes pronunciation is so important in the English language !

I often hesitate to write about it as it might not please the Brits, but I guess English language is mostly a copy of French language at a certain period of history.

It's sometimes funny/moving to realize there's a hidden old root...

Today I realized that
- the English "provided that..." corresponds to the French "pourvu que..."
- the English "provider" corresponds to the French "fournisseur"
Right?
Yes but...
- the French prefix "pour" is related to the Latin "pro", so it's not surprising that the French "pourvu" looks like the English "provided", is it?
- now tho we presently use "fournisseur", we've a synonym which is "pourvoyeur"...
- "pourvoyeur" looks very close to "provider", no?
Yes English is an old copy of French/a copy of old French.

Gérard I am not an expert but internet searching has told me that 45% of all English words have a French origin. It's amazing.

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I am not an expert but internet searching has told me that 45% of all English words have a French origin. It's amazing.

I'd have said more than 45%...
I don't know if "have a French origin" means purely French and if "Latin origin" is not included in the number.
When I think of "looking like Fench", I mean "same root".

Anyway as you said "English language is mostly a copy of French language" which is not a compliment for our friends across the Channel !

MurielB a écrit:Anyway as you said "English language is mostly a copy of French language" which is not a compliment for our friends across the Channel !

Is the word "copy" too harsh?
I'm not feeling disgraced to hear French comes after Latin, Greek or whatever.

Anyway all languages are descended from a proto-human language aren't they ?

MurielB a écrit:Anyway all languages are descended from a proto-human language aren't they ?

Some professionals say so... but there are oodles of ways and like in a family tree some languages are on the same branch, others no.

I know you are a language evolution specialist and you must be right !

Howdy.
A few days ago, Nagui was receiving a candidate named Leith.
The guy was a Brit living in Corsica since the 1980s, I mean his French was very good.
Nagui told him that as far as he knew he had to pronounce "leeth" and Leith aknowledged.


That reminded me again (I guess I already write a few words about this) I had thought Cliff Richard that I liked as the singer of the Shadows ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX9AACWlk7I ) decades ago became the guitarist of the Rolling Stones.

The fact is that I heard several times the name of the guitarist of the Stones and that I heard "cliff Richard" but I've French ears.
A problem was that when I was reading the names I couldn't find Cliff Richard among the Stones.

The truth is that the guitarist of the Stones is Keith Richards ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Richards ) and that it is pronounced Keeth Richards.

Okayayayay!

Good response by Mr Nagui whose wife is Engliish: "eith" is often/always pronounced "eeth".

Something I realized recently and that I forgot to say here.

In English, 1 is singular, 1.1 to 1.99 is plural, 2 is plural
In French, 1 is singular, 1.001 to 1.999 is singular, 2 is plural.
(I already wrote about this)

What I discovered is that in English, 0 is plural!!!
I don't know about 0,001 to 0,999 yet.

Something weird in English time:
- at the beginning of the "day", they write 0:10am (Fr minuit 10)
- for midday, the clock shows 12:10pm (Fr midi dix)
So for the afternoon, 12:10 is before 1:00.
Brits sometimes (eg in airports) write 0:10 or 12:10 without am nor pm; you now now howto make the distinction between am and pm - 12:01am doesn't exist, 0:01pm doesn't exist.

Hi everyone,
I'm often thinking about posting this but never when I'm in front of my comp... here we are.

The English language has a pronunciation that is precise; I mean there're oodles of sounds that I cannot perceive.
My father was telling me: "To speak a good American, just fill your mouh with chewing gum". He was joking but I believed him: no it doesn't work, the pronunciation is not something anyone can imagine.
English speaking people hear so well that they have oodles of very close words.

A few examples around "Google"; I let you check the meanings:
- gaggle
- giggle
- goggle
- gogglles
(I just changes the second letter, I could have tried to also change others to find close/confusing pronunciations (for the French).