Talk:French words in English/Catalogs

Oh, this is fine. Did you work it out for yourself, Hayford? Ro Thorpe 15:50, 2 May 2008 (CDT)

I wuz channelling Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Albert Einstein the whole time. With a couple of hints from Isaac Newton. Made it easy, hehe.... Hayford Peirce 16:14, 2 May 2008 (CDT)

I'm most impressed by you all. Ro Thorpe 17:16, 2 May 2008 (CDT)

It is nothing. I can see farther because I stand on the shoulders of giants. Or some such. Hehe.... Hayford Peirce 17:30, 2 May 2008 (CDT)

amuse-moi

Neither of the "amuse" are in the MW but I see them all the time in the foodie articles of the NYT, Cook Illustrated, etc., so they're certain au courant.... Hayford Peirce 15:05, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

zest vs. zeste

I'm thinkin' here of the lemon/orange peel stuff, but evidently the "zest for life etc." originated with the peel word. But the spellings, at least in English, are confusing, to say the least.... Whaddaya think? Hayford Peirce 23:22, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

I confess I had never heard of 'zeste' & I suspect it's a specialist foodie word, being absent (except for the etymology) not only from my Oxford but also (wait for it..) from Merriam-Webster online! Ro Thorpe 10:59, 8 May 2008 (CDT)

Probably exclusively a foodie word, then. It won't make the cut, hehe.... ("Cela ne vaut pas un zeste" -- "It is not worth a straw" [Harrap's New Collegiate French and English Dictionary]) Hayford Peirce 11:20, 8 May 2008 (CDT)

don't get fresh with me, young man!

I'd say that it's probably just pure dumb 'Merkin luck. It *looks* sorta like "fresh", so why not say it that way? I gotta say, that 51 and a half years after taking my first French class, I still get confused about "frais", "fraiche", "frais de bois" and "lay frez eh lay from boize". Why is life (la vie francaise) so complique?

Well, I put the more purist français one in as well. My first French class was in 1961, I make that 47 years ago. We were taught by a northerner known as Bug. Toto ouvre la pot, he taught us to say, so for a few weeks I thought that doors were pots in French. Ro Thorpe 15:58, 10 May 2008 (CDT)

duvet, retroussee, par excellence... Ro Thorpe 11:14, 15 May 2008 (CDT), nougat, caramel... Ro Thorpe 16:06, 16 May 2008 (CDT) - oxford says rapporteur's from fr., but either way, i have no problem with it - Ro Thorpe 17:48, 16 May 2008 (CDT)

Okie, I'll stick it in, then.... Hayford Peirce 17:50, 16 May 2008 (CDT)

i see you've put the others in too, tres bien - Ro Thorpe 17:54, 16 May 2008 (CDT)

oxford says oenophile is direct from greek, no mention of french, but on the same page in italics is oeillade - Ro Thorpe 12:11, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

MW says "oenophile" is from F, which in turn was from G. It has "oeillade" but says it is from MF. Didn't Willie the Shake use it somewhere? I'll let you figger out what to do about the two words -- here in Tux'n it's only 10:16 in the morn, far too early for me to put my brain to work.... Hayford Peirce 12:17, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

you'd never find me up at such an arctic hour. yes, mw online has oe- joined together -nophile, which is emphatically le style français, so let them both passer partout. meanwhile i've asked conway to send his recently updated list in forwardable form - Ro Thorpe 13:34, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

Is that Conway Twitty? I thought he had died, poor guy.... Maybe from a surfeit of Loretta Lynn? Hayford Peirce 13:38, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

i imagined he was named after mr twitty, tho perhaps 'twas only make-believe -

well, I imagine that in any case he has excellent, tight-fitting genes.... Hayford Peirce 14:13, 17 May 2008 (CDT)

genes vincents, no doubt - Ro Thorpe 14:25, 17 May 2008 (CDT)