French Letters and the English Canon - Hardcover

Daniel, Mark

3.17

6 ratings by Goodreads

9781857252071: French Letters and the English Canon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1857252071 ISBN 13: 9781857252071

Publisher: Timewell Press, 2007

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A witty and informative A-Z guide to French words and phrases borrowed by the English, presented in giftbook format.Boudoir n. - a lady's sitting or dressing-room, often today wrongly used to denote a bedroom. In fact, a boudoir, derived from the French bouder - to pout or sulk - means a 'sulking room', a place where a woman may engage in prolonged emotional blackmail in considerable comfort. In common English usage since 1777.

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Synopsis:

Desperate for le mot juste? Tortured by l'esprit de l'escalier? This little book is a chef d'oeuvre to guide you through the embarras de richesse of words and phrases borrowed into English from the French. English is the richest language in the world - throughout history it has assimilated words from other lands - and has a word for almost everything, but still we pilfer words and phrases from the French. Boudoir n. a lady's sitting or dressing-room, often today wrongly used to denote a bedroom. In fact, a boudoir, derived from the French bouder - to pout or sulk - means a "sulking room", a place where a woman may, and therefore quite reasonably does, engage in prolonged emotional blackmail in considerable comfort. In common English usage since 1777. Sometimes French is thought to protect children and servants from Saxonic bluntness. Sometimes it is (wrongly) thought to prove artistic or intellectual credentials or refinement. Sometimes it is simply camp. Just occasionally, it fulfils a purpose which English cannot.

In this robust, funny and well-researched guide, novelist and food-writer Mark Daniel gathers together and dissects these cross-channel migrants, with often surprising results. Whether you simply love language and its history, aspire to recherche prestige or simply want to annoy that pretentious, arriviste poseur who uses French phrases where an English one would have served, then this is the book for you...

About the Author:

Mark Daniel is a novelist, journalist and crusading cook. The
son of a racehorse trainer and a wellknown painter of horses, Mark was
reared in Lambourn, Berkshire, the home of British horseracing, and was
riding as soon as he could walk. He became a frequent visitor to Longchamps
and the training-yards of France and soon became familiar with the
particular variety of Franglais (` Qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire avec ce
bloody `orse?') spoken in this gallant cosmopolitan sport. Educated at
Ampleforth, he won an Exhibition to Peterhouse, Cambridge, then spent his
year off in France, where he became fluent in French. As well as his novels
and racing thrillers ( Under Orders, Pity the Sinner and The Devil to Pay),
Mark has written novelisations, ranging from Ghostbusters to Jack the
Ripper, which saw him established as one of the world's leading (if
reluctant) Ripperologists. He now writes for several national and local
newspapers and magazines, including the Daily Express, the Western Morning
News, the Irish Independent, Country Illustrated, House and Gardenand The
Liberal, and has a monthly racing column in Odds On. He lives in Exeter,
Devon.

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