1 English idioms

Cette semaine une amie m'a prêtée le livre de Stephen Lewis "Flying Pigs" : le titre fait référence à l'expression bien connue des anglophiles : "and pigs might fly", traduit parfois en français par "quand les poules auront des dents". Je voudrai recommander ce livre aux amoureux de la langue anglaise car il traite avec humour des expressions idiomatiques anglo-saxonnes.
Si en français nous parlons de la capote anglaise, nos amis disent: "a French letter", quand nous filons à l'anglaise", eux préfèrent utiliser l'expression " to take French leave". Quant à notre délicieuse "crème anglaise", les anglais la traduisent plus souvent par : "custard cream".
Si vous venez au café polyglotte de Boulogne, je vous montrerai la liste (non exhaustive) des mots français utilisés par les anglais. Elle est en fait bien supérieure à la liste des mots anglais utilisés par les français, ce qui réjouira les puristes de la langue française et vous encouragera dans l'apprentissage de la langue.
Chercher le mot "French" dans un dictionnaire anglais, vous trouverez sans doute :"French bean"(haricot vert),"French chalk" (craie de tailleur), "French door" (porte-fenêtre), "French dressing" (vinaigrette), "French fry","French kiss","French knickers", "French leave", "French letter","French loaf" (baguette), "French marigold", "French pastry", "French pleat", "French polish" (vernis), "French seam", "French toast" (pain perdu)......
"To put it in a nutshell", bref comme disent les anglais, venez nous rejoindre le mercredi soir au café "Tôt ou Tard" pour compléter la liste.

See you in "Tot ou t'art" this coming wednesday. I want to know more about the interesting expressions you have mentioned
Muriel

Est-ce que l'on peut mettre dans la même catégorie "French Fries" et "French Touch"?

Actually i don't know what do you mean by "French touch", i wrote down this list of expressions to make people think of all the connections we have with English and to encourage them to speak Shakespeare's language.

"French touch" depend of the fashion (the wind ... on air ...)
sometine, it is linked to the seduction
in the end of last century, it was techno music band (like Daft Punk, Air, Cassius, Daid Guetta...)
now it's in making animation movies (eg: "Là haut" is french made, but with american pognon)

I just say that 4 fun, and please correct my poor english

I asked peter and he said that anything which looks french has a french touch : To dress with a french touch, to eat with a french touch etc...please, correct me if I am wrong, Peter, when you read that message

I would like to add some information to my message, i spoke about 'custard cream" as a "crème anglaise". Nevertheless my English friends said to me that a custard cream is a biscuit sandwich traditionnaly with a vanilla cream in the centre. If we want to speak about "crème anglaise' you have to say just "custard". So please forgive me and to make your mouth water,have a look at it !!;

You can get custard creams in Strasbourg. A couple of shops with English goods sell them, but the price is unfortunately not very reasonable.
I make quizzes and a few weeks ago I made this picture quiz...can you identify the 10 'French' items?

Thank you very much for joining us, I hope I found the good answers :
1 The French Lieutenant's Woman
2 The French kiss
3 The French Catheter Scale
4 The French Loaf
5 The French Polynesia
6 I know "The French Pleat"(chignon banane), but here it must be different, can i say :" The french fringe", or perhaps just "The French woman", may i have a clue, I give in !
7 The French Defense
8 The French Academy
9 The French dressing
10 The French Open Title
Let me know if i'm right, my brain needs some rest now !!

Very good, Agnes! 9/10
6. She's a British comedian with a "French" name...I'm sure someone out there knows her...

Is she Dawn French?
To be honest i didn't know her

Yes! Well done...

such a studious pupil !

English speaking people smile when they hear the French pronounce sweat-shirt   swi:t Se:t   !!
No sugar anywhere.

Most of these expressions can be litterally translated into French can't they?

Thanks Gérard, I have carefully read those 40 rules. I don't understand

Participles must not be dangled

do you ?

I didn't understand either Muriel... I'm investigating and I'll try to let you know.

Thanks Gérard for these expressions. I would like to add "it's high time" grammar rule which I find interesting
http://www.grammaring.com/its-high-time

 


IT'S (HIGH) TIME

• unreal situations
  

it's (high) time + past subjunctive
It's (high) time + past subjunctive expresses that something should be done and that it is already a bit late:

to bed. You'll have to get up early tomorrow.It's high time I bought a new pair of jeans.It's about time this road was completed. They've been working on it for months. a écrit:It's time you went

When we say that the right time has arrived for something and we are still in time, we can use the following patterns:

to bed.It's time to say goodbye.It's time for breakfast. a écrit:It's time (for you) to go

    

MurielB a écrit:...  which language to use. Is it  American English ?  Is it British English ?. I have spent hours on end studying British English and with the advent of the internet and the word wide web a lot of articles are written in American English and i get all mixed up.

Yes Muriel, it's difficult.
In my opinion, we have to avoid to mix both varieties and make a choice.
However, the problem is for many people. British oldies get angry when they hear British youngsters adopting American expressions due to films, songs: young Brits don't speak a "pure" language.

Gérard with your influence I definitely Americanise my British English. When my daughter from Lyon speaks in English she sounds American. I should speak to her in English over the phone. Every morning I sing British nursery rhymes to her little girl because I don't know any American nursery rhymes.

I have never used the adjective jubilant=>expressing great joy

Gérard it is a very good way to know more about the word "Money"

MurielB a écrit:Gérard it is a very good way to know more about the word "Money"

It's mandatory to use specific words, such as in French you cannot use a word of your choice.

wounded" needs blood.

In that case the skin should be torn, pierced, cut, or otherwise broken (with blood) thanks for reminding us Gérard.