Re: Lobsters, “Champagne” and the French

Jan 15, 2008 1 Replies



>> Ha ha.... image and interface are of latin origin and came into english
>> through the french language. So the paradox is that some pedants here get
>> up in arms about the french adopting english words without thinking that
>> every second one was originally filched by the english from the french... >
> Mike,
> I don't disagree with your larger point, but just because interface is
> constructed from Latin roots doesn't mean it entered English from French.
> Unlike the example of image, which has a true Latin origin and was
> introduced into the English language by the Normans, interface is a
> neologism, dating back to the 1960s (according to my sources) in English
> and almost certainly appearing in French as a loan word from English. It's
> not as egregious as "le weekend" to be sure, but still a valid example.

Or "les plastic bags" as I heard the checkout girl say in a French supermarket. Graham

Salut/Hi Mark Lipton,

le/on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:28:06 -0500, tu disais/you said:-

Whew... what a reief that I only picked up on image.... I had a nasty feeling that interface wasn't in the same category. (Shows how lazy I am, 'cos I could have looked it up....

Oh ... we have plenty such!! "Stopper" & Recommander" in real French and "Smasher" & "dribbler" in "sports commentator french"

Now we have "Tchatch" for chat (IRQ), because chat means cat. And in a truly french style, we now talk about "tchatcher" because the idea of a noun and a verb being identical is beyond them. Like "Faxer" for example.

Shudder.

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