One of the things I missed the most when I first came to Canada was the ease of using my mother tongueāFrench, the one language I truly mastered. I was lucky, though, because Ottawa is probably one of the most bilingual cities in the country. So I devoured all the livres en franƧais available at my local library and when I was done, I used to go on a hunt for second-hand French magazines. When I was desperate, I read French labels on products and watched French shows I would have never paid attention to in France (Thalassa, anyone?). Looking back, itās no wonder I became a linguistic resourceāI spent my time and energy absorbing North American English, finishing my university degree in Chinese studies and dreaming in French.
Of course, my ears perked up whenever I spotted a French word in a conversation or in an English environment. Finally, I had an edge!
Unfortunately, these āloan wordsā didnāt always make sense to me.
Much has been written about Frenchās questionable use of Englishāle parking, un jogging or des baskets donāt actually have the same meaning (or mean anything at all) in proper English. But as I discovered, English speakers also butcher French language.
Indeed, English is a wonderful and flexible language with many loan words. For instance, you can start your day speaking āItalianā at Starbucksāāa grande espresso, pleaseāāenjoy lox (Yiddish for ābrined salmonā) on a bagel and cream cheese at lunch and relax in your Chinese feng shui living room (bonus for Swedish-sounding furniture!)
However, Iām not sure the following words would be understood by French speakers in the context they are often used…
Ć la mode
I remember the day I first saw this expression en franƧais. I was sitting at Dennyās, stuffed after a US-style breakfast, yet considering dessert for research purpose since I was exploring North American gastronomy. Yes, a convenient excuse, I know. So I ordered an apple pie Ć la mode. I had half-expected my slice to be branded with Chanelās double interlocking Cs because āĆ la modeā means ātrendyā in French. But no, it just came covered with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I still donāt understand the connection between ice cream and fashion and in case you were wondering, I couldnāt finish dessert.
Proper French use: Cette nana est toujours Ć la mode! (“This girl always wears the latest in fashion!”). Or even Les vacances sont un sujet Ć la mode sur Twitter (āHolidays are a trending topic on Twitterā).
EntrƩe
In my early days of being Canadian, I had a completely nonsensical conversation with a waiter. There were three of us, so I said we would share an entrĆ©e then have one daily special eachāwhat I assumed was the main course. The waiter was confused and warned us it was too much food. He was right: in North American English, an āentrĆ©eā is the main course but in France, the word refers to an appetizer. Iām still occasionally confused by that one.
Proper French use: āLa soupe est une bonne entrĆ©e.ā (āSoupe is a good appetizerā).
Coup
āDid you hear about the coup in Turkey?ā Feng asked me the other day. āThe coup of what?ā I joked, knowing he was referring to what is, in proper French, a ācoup dāĆ©tat,ā i.e. an attempt to overthrow the government. āCoupā in French means āblow,ā ācoup dāĆ©tatā is literally a āblow of state.ā If you just say ācoupā in French, it means āshock,ā āstrokeā or it could be used in expressions like a ācoup de tonnerreā (crash of thunder), ācoup de ventā (wind gust), ācoup de mainā (āhelping handā), ācoup de soleilā (āsunburnā), etc.
Proper French use: āJe ne comprends rien Ć cette tentative de coup d’Ć©tat.ā (āI donāt get this attempted coup.ā)
MaĆ®tre d’
Again, whatās with not using the full word? The proper expression in French is āmaĆ®tre dāhĆ“tel,ā literally the āmaster of hotel,ā i.e. the person in charge of a restaurant.
Proper French use: āLe maĆ®tre d’hĆ“tel est trĆØs poli.ā (āThe maitre dā is very polite.ā)
Petit/Petite
The way North Americans use the word āpetitā or āpetiteā is baffling to me. āPetitā means āsmallā or ālittleā in French. Itās a versatile word but it implies something small. In Canada, I often see it in clothing stores where there is a āpetiteā aisle for short, slender women but I donāt find petite-size garments designed much differently. And in food service, āpetitā something can also translate into a giant portion of whatever you ordered, much like something āXLā in France is never that big. I think the old world and the new world just have different expectations when it comes to assessing sizes (that sounded dirty, didnāt it!)
Chocolate croissant
Iām nitpicking over a tiny detail, but in France, there is no āchocolate croissant.ā There is āle croissant,ā the crescent-shaped buttery pastry, sometimes with two apricots (ācroissant aux abricotsā) sometimes filled with almonds (ācroissant aux amandesā). And then there is the āpain au chocolat,ā a buttery roll filled with two thin chocolate sticks. So in my mind, either itās a croissant, either itās a pain au chocolat but it canāt be both. It would be like if French were saying āun burger with sausageāānope, itās either a burger or a hot dog!
Oh, and while we are on the topic… stop ordering āFrench friesā in France. First, deep-fried potato sticks are one of Belgiumās culinary claims to fame. Second, fries are fries, no need to specific. Have you ever heard of Chinese fries, Mexican fries, etc.? So, des frites, merci.
Finally, youāll be happy to know that āVoulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?ā is grammatically correct, although rarely used by French men in their flirting efforts. Eh oui, c’est la vie…
It’s called a “chocolatine” !! š Sorry, very bad, old joke.
I love your blog, thank you for sharing your experience and your beautiful writing.
š Love it! Sud-ouest en force!
Yes ! A flamewar Ā«Ā petit pain au chocolatĀ Ā»Ā /Ā Ā«Ā chocolatineĀ Ā».
Ā«Ā ChocolatineĀ Ā» is an invention of Satan, and should be banned from Earth, as well as all people using it.
Et Ć MontrĆ©al Ƨa s’appelle bien une chocolatine š
Ah oui?? Bizarre!
I condemn the use but will still eat it, no matter what it’s called š
Haha “voulez-vous coucher avec moi” et “bon voyage” are the ones I hear all the time
And yes “EntrĆ©e”, like WTF people, so confusing! I never get it.
There aren’t a lot of French speakers here, and as a matter of fact there wasn’t many of us in Scotland either so I sometimes need to rack my brain to find the proper French word, and apparently right off the plane to France I always have a bit of an accent :/
LOL Also, you forgot to mention that we have to say all these French words and expressions with an English accent otherwise nobody understands! š
Like “mercy bucket” š
I still don’t know how the locals pronounce the town of Eau Claire in Wisconsin.
Oh boy… that must sound… weird! š
Same here, there are a few “franco-franƧais” words I completely forget until I’m in France!
Scottish woman in Vancouver here.
I feel the same way about “entrĆ©e” – it’s not the main course!
But “chocolate croissant” is my pet peeve. Our local Starbucks actually had “pain au chocolat” on the menu, but when I ordered it, the woman paused then said “a chocolate craasaant?” incredulously.
I was so disappointed when I tried the Starbucks croissant and pain au chocolat :/ they were sadly not up to par…
My Scottish other half misses the sausage rolls from Greggs of all things haha he reckons the ones sold here are not quite the same (not as greasy?1?!)
Oh god, my English husband is the same way. We’re going back for a wedding and he’s already planning our trip to Greggs š
Hi Jen, nice to meet you!
YES! I was actually thinking of Starbucks when writing about the pain au chocolat š Confusing, eh?
And what about this Chai-tea business at Tim Hortons
Chai means tea; in Hindi, Punjabi and some other Indian languages. I always have a fine laugh at it, basically Timmies is selling tea-tea š How’s that for daft usage of a language?
That’s hilarious! I had no idea “chai” meant “tea”. To me, he refers to this spiced tea coffee chains sell in Canada. And yay, now I know one word in Hindi/Punjabi!
The use of Ā«Ā EntrĆ©eĀ Ā» drives me nuts.
Finally, youāll be happy to know that āVoulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?ā is grammatically correct,==> LOL, this is funny, the only French I know after Mercy! :))
Anyway, most of Indonesia think your mother tongue is beautiful. we love how the people talk like singing a song. we called it “sengau” . Now, i try to pick up the language by myself. just for the sake posting a status in foreign language =))
I used DW (www.dw.com) when I want to read sentence in german language, do you have any recommendation the similar website to learn French?
That’s funny! French tend to think Italian is the best sounding language around (and German or Dutch the worst….).
I posted a bunch of French resources a while ago. They are mostly about Quebec French, but they work for European French too: https://correresmidestino.com/improve-quebecois/
I wonder what people think ‘a la mode’ means? This was a funny read. I have often seen ‘a la mode’ and thought this same thing.
I really wonder how “Ć la mode” turned into a scope of ice cream too!