Englishisms in France: Readers' franglais favourites

A row over plans to teach some courses at French universities in English has outraged some defenders of the language of Moliere - but plenty of French people habitually sprinkle their speech with franglais. Here, readers share their favourite anglicisms.

1. On a recent visit to an aerospace company near Paris, I was surprised to hear French engineers use "no-'ow" [know-how] instead of "savoir faire". Roy Woodcock, Olympia, WA, USA

2. When at school (circa 1966) we had a recording played in a French lesson, in which two boys going on a camping trip discussed at length the need to take "les baked beans". I've tended to pronounce them as "back-ed beans" ever since, which is why I remember it! Sue Perks, Facebook

3. Amongst my favourites are "faire du shopping" and "le booze-cruising." What could be more Franglais than "je vais faire du booze-cruising"? Peter Walter, Bromley, UK

4. I have genuinely seen this with my own eyes: At the English railway station: "The buffet is open." At the French Railway station: "Le snack bar est ouvert." Paul Savage, Guildford Surrey

5. The Quebecois find English nouns annoying but enjoy making verbs from English words (flipper = to freak out, for example). Ruby Irene Pratka, Facebook

6. My current favourite has to be "C'est le must!", which is how some French people now translate "It's de rigueur". Oh the irony. AK Fortis-Evan, Southampton, UK

7. I live and work in France and have convinced my colleagues that verbing is fun. We have created a new verb (regular "er" form), "luncher" - to lunch. "Lunchez-vous avec moi aujourd'hui?" is now regularly heard in my office. Joyful playing with language is fun, not a sin! Tom, Toulouse, France

8. Just look at new technology… you will have great difficulty getting anywhere without finding English terms, from "le hardware" to "le software" via the inevitable "le spam", whilst anyone who contributes to a forum has added "un post". Sports are also full of English terms, from "le goal average" to "le coach" via "le coaching" (tactical substitutions). One which I admit irritates me is the relatively recent verb "scorer" which is now used almost exclusively in football rather than the traditional "marquer" ("marquer un but" is to score a goal). Paul Darby, Clermont Ferrand, Puy de Dôme, France

9. It pleases me no end that French for a walkie-talkie is... "talkie-walkie"! galaxy_nut, London, UK

10. Earlier this year, I was in Meribel, France, on a snowboarding holiday. I always make an effort to speak the language of whichever country I visit, so it was particularly strange that I was using the words "la planche a neige" (French for snowboarding) yet they all talked about "(le) snowboard". Andrew Pratt, Cleveleys, Lancs

English is said to be more popular among younger French people

11. It has definitely become the "cool" (or "supercool", or even "hypercool" - pronounced eepacool - as my former French flatmates used to say) thing to do to incorporate as much English into a sentence as possible, to show off your knowledge of the outside world. Made-up words like "footing", to mean jogging, have crept up recently.... I have seen stand-up comedians being described as "un one-man-show", or even comediennes as "une one-woman-show". The mayor of New York was described in one newspaper as "un self-made-man". And when I sat down for dinner for the first time with my French flatmates, they tried to embrace the English language to welcome the present company with "Good eating!" - they were shocked to hear that "Bon appetit!" makes perfect sense, not just because it's not English, but because we seem too lazy to think of anything new for ourselves. Matthew Lewis, Watford, UK

12. Seen in the window of a men's outfitters in Paris, the sign: "Tout Snob - Presque Cad." Andrew Peerless,Facebook

13. "Se geeker" - participate in geekish activity such as playing video games. "Il est en train de se geeker devant son ordi." [He is doing something geekish on his computer.] Tom Rowell, Lancaster, UK

14. As a university student of French and Business, I went abroad last year on a work placement. At the airport in Nice, I found the French usage of "le check-in" and "le check-out" for airport terminology surprising and funny! Rob Cribb, Kent, England

15. I remember being taught "un chewing gum" in one of my first ever French lessons. Alex Pinkney, Facebook

16. Estate agents use the English sounding "home staging" to mean decorating or otherwise changing the look of a property to increase its chance of selling. Otherwise known as "relooking", another (badly) borrowed word. Carl Woffenden, Bartenheim, France

Faites-vous du shopping?

17. My favourite while living in France 2000-2005 was "lifting" to indicate cosmetic surgery. Michael Knibbs, Saigon, Vietnam (UK)

18. The red carpet (in the news because of Cannes Film Festival) is no longer le tapis rouge but... le "red carpet". John McGuckin, Facebook

19. Some of the most commonly-heard franglais mixes derive from grabbing parts of common English and creating strange hybrid nouns such as a "smoking", a "parking", a "dressing", a "shampooing", a "snacking" etc which leave you waiting for the finishing word. (A "smoking" describes a smart jacket - from smoking jacket, a "dressing" would be where you store your clothes - a dressing room.) Another annoying misappropriation is the noun "fashion" which, in French, becomes an adjective, as in "J'adore tes chaussures - tres fashion." Here in France I admire the brave efforts of many small restaurant owners who offer English translations on their menus. Unfortunately, their choice of words from their well-thumbed family dictionaries can sometimes result in startling dishes such as "Menu of the Earth" (menu de terroir), "Jumped Chicken" (poulet sauté) "Duck's Foot" (cuisse de canard) and, my favourite so far, "Salmon Pavement" (pavé de saumon). Wyn Scourfield, Tours, Central France

20. For actors and artists it's always great to get "un booking". Dan Gregory,Facebook

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