Re: CHAT: French expressions in English (Re: OT CHAT:Asperger'ssyndrome)

nicole perrin wrote:
>
> Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> >
> > Nik Taylor wrote:
> >
> > > John Cowan wrote:
> > > > I have never seen a list anywhere, but there are lots (forgive errors, I'm
> > > > working from memory only): au point, au pied de la lettre, double entendre
> > > > (archaic French), cestui que trust (legal phrase, also arch. Fr.), de rigueur,
> > > > je ne sais quoi, bon mot.
> > >
> > > Please forgive any mis-spellings.  :-)
> > >
> > > Add RSVP (Réspondez s'il vous plâit), déja vu, jamais vu, presque vu,
> > > nom de plume, nom de guerre, c'est la vie, la creme de la creme,
> > > savoir-faire, laissez-faire [belief that the government should not
> > > interfere with the economy in any way], en passant [a chess term], en
> > > masse, joi de vivre
> >
> > Let's not forget:  <éminence grise>.  That's one I use when the people
> > I'm with don't mind my being obnoxious.
>
> Let's also not forget:  raison d'être, faux pas, faux ami...and many
> many more.
>
But looking over the various lists above I would hazard the guess that
not more half would even be recognized by the average (read monolingual)
speaker of American English.  Hell, there are some I don't recognize
and I consider myself fairly educated :)
--
Brad Coon
bcoon@imt.net

Somedays when you wake up, its just not worth chewing through
the leather straps.