French phrases

[toadgirl]

I don't speak French and I only did an A-Level in French many moons ago, so I am not claiming to be an expert here.

However, here are a couple of examples that drive me crazy:-

Fox paws (faux pas)
Percy or per say (per se)

[StealthPolarBear]

:)

[SpuriouserAndSpuriouser]

No. NO. Do people actually write these things?! The worst I have seen is "on route"

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Some people (Americans, mainly, sorry but true!) think it's 'wahla' instead of 'voila' and write it out in blogs etc...

[BeyondBeyondBeyondBeyondBeyond]

Ect.... (Et cetera)

[toadgirl]

think it's 'wahla' instead of 'voila'

Oh, YES! That's another one I've seen.

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Walla!

[Thomasisintraining]

Where I live there is a Cul da Sac

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Omg yes I DESPISE 'ect' as well. Do people not know that it's short for 'et cetera', and what that means? Don't they wonder where 'ect' comes from and look into it? I just don't understand that. Also iPhones autocorrect to etc so half the time there's no excuse.

[Decanter]

I once knew someone who would say AND type....."oomwah" instead of "moi".

I shit you not.

[FurryDogMother]

Per se is Latin, not French :)

[BeyondBeyondBeyondBeyondBeyond]

Come to think of it, I think etc is too!

[Leirope]

Per se and etc both from Latin (literally 'in itself' and 'and the rest').

Ridiculous level of pedantry but I'm getting annoyed every time they say 'Francois Hollande' on the news as 'fron-shwa all-ond' instead of 'fron-shwaz-all-ond'.

[toadgirl]

Per se is Latin, not French

So it is!

Je fais un fox paws!

[GraceGrape]

Lei, sorry to be even more pedantic, but Francois is pronounced the first way (Fron-swa). The feminine version, Francoise is pronounced Fron-swaaz. Even with the silent H for his surname, the z sound shouldn't be pronounced (as it would in another word followed by a vowel) because it is a name.

Think I have reached new levels of pedantry....

[toadgirl]

Omg yes I DESPISE 'ect' as well

It makes me think of ECT shock treatment.

[BeyondBeyondBeyondBeyondBeyond]

Haha, me too with the ECT!

It's ol-ond surely? Not all-ond?

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Grace thanks so much for that explanation! I'd totally forgotten that rule from my A-level French years ago!
On a similar note (sorry Americans again): Americans saying 'urb' instead of 'herb' / is that because they think they have to pronounce it the French way? Drives me mad.

[Leirope]

Grace all that wasted pedantry when I could have been concentrating on something really important like people who said the hoi polloi (not French but still a crime).

[Thomasisintraining]

To be fair the British media does not really try much with heads of states' names. There was a former Irish Taoiseach referred to as Charles Hockey for a decade by the British media.

[Leirope]

Shotgun All English speakers used to pronounce it as urb when the colonies were founded. It was only when all things French became politically taboo that we switched to pronouncing the 'h'.

[Leirope]

Thomas or when they try to pronounce Strabane

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Well - every day a school day !

[ThoraGruntwhistle]

To be 'oh fay' with something.

[BerriesandLeaves]

There's a place near me called Le Personne Trust. Isn't it supposed to be La Personne?

[SenecaFalls]

Americans saying 'urb' instead of 'herb' / is that because they think they have to pronounce it the French way?

We also pronounce "filet" "garage" and "valet" in the French way. And we do a pretty good job with Spanish words too.