Off the top of my head, there are at least three French words or phrases in common use in the USoA that relate to very common things.
Among them: fiancé, cul-de-sac, and hors d’oeuvres.
Golly, folks, can’t the creative English speakers come up with and use English words for these? After all, cul-de-sac literally means “bottom of the bag”…it certainly doesn’t paint a pretty picture of what many house-seekers look for.
hors d’oeuvres = appetizers
Fiance=betrothed
Cul-de-sac=dead end
hors d’oeuvres=finger food
Lord Flasheart to Nursie: I like it firm and fruity. Am I glad to see you
or did I just put a canoe in my pocket?
Lord Flasheart: She’s got a tongue like an electric eel and she likes the
taste of a man’s tonsils.
Those wacky French; they’ve got a word for everything. -Homer Simpson-
How about:
fiancé = betrothed
hors d’oeuvres = appetizer
Can’t really think of and equivalent for cul-de-sac, but those types of streets are usually named circle or court.
Yes, folks, I know what the words mean. The question (stated another way) is:
Why don’t we commonly use English words for these? Why are we content to use the French, especially such atrocities as hors d’oeuvres?
“go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!”
2 corrections:
1: litteral translation of cul-de-sac is ASS of the bag
2: Simpsons quote is “… they have a different word for everything.”
Assuming you are serious, this from Merriam Webster:
“Stupid bird! I should never have put you in charge!”
Actually, this is kind of a silly question – since English is an amalgam anyway. That is, many English words are French (or German, or another language), it’s just that they became part of English long enough ago that we don’t think of them as French. So, for example, you might say we could use “court” instead of “cul-de-sac”, but “court” is French, too, I’m guessing via the Latin curia.
*Raza: Off the top of my head, there are at least three French words or phrases in common use in the USoA that relate to very common things.
Among them: fiancé, cul-de-sac, and hors d’oeuvres.
Golly, folks, can’t the creative English speakers come up with and use English words for these? *
Nope. That’s the nature of English. It’s the Borg of languages: assimilate.
In another 100 years, these words won’t seem foreign at all. “Resume” (as in career summary) is almost there. “Beef” and “mutton” are definately in. There’s also a plethora of Native American words that are now English words.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
And “appetizer” also is of French origin, albeit carrying a modern ending. Bon appetit
Cul has both meanings:
–Le Larousse de Poche (Paris, 1998)
What’s interesting is that the French term, cul-de-sac is rarely used in France. They tend to say impasse.
This will always be carved in my memory as, once when I was in France during the 1980s, I came across a road sign that said:
“RUE THATCHER - IMPASSE”.
That’s why English is such a viable, living language. We can take other emminently suitable words from other languages and incorporate them into our vocabulary, and do it with glee and mad debauch and thank thee very much. Languages like French which are spoken by snobs who resent any intrusion or improvement will die a painful slow death because they refuse to evolve. I might ask why the frogs have no word for “weekend,” yet hate it when people use ours?
Erm, french for “weekend” is fin de la semaine.
Not surprisingly, many of the French have abandoned this thyroidal construction in favor of le week-end (pronounced “luh vick-end”) instead.
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
isn’t there a german word that means “deriving pleasure from another’s misfortune”? or something like that?
i know dennis miller brought it up in a rant, and i’ve seen it elsewhere…
we need an english word like that, or else an easier pronunciation…
I think the word you’re looking for, Ubermensch, is Schadenfreude. It’s one of my very favorite words. 
Raza asked:
Because the French is exotic and therefore more beautiful than the English. Why say appetizer, when you can sound culturally important and say “or dervs”? I suspect this is due in part to the fashion of serving them coming from France, and thus the uppity - er, cultural elite who started this practice in English countries adopted the snooty French over the banal English.
Betrothed. Hard to say (if you don’t pronounce the “ed” as a separate syllable). “Fee ahn say” - easy to say (hard to spell right).
Cul-de-sac sounds more elegant than “dead-end street”.
ubermensch asked:
In English that’s called “sadism”.
The reason is the Battle of Hastings.
When the Norman French conquered England in 1066, there was a great influx of nobles who spoke French as their primary/sole language. The ability to speak French became tied to one’s ability to advance in society, and French became a “prestige language.” This lasted for about 400-500 years, after which the expansion of the middle class enabled English (with its Germanic and Latin roots) to resurface.
We still use French words to indicate higher status or quality. I could give a list, but I won’t.
As to why even vulgar-seeming French terms are used this way, there are two reasons: 1. the French have a knack for sarcasm and poetic reference to things. 2. A social climber would latch onto any term he could learn, even an improper one, thus inadvertently branding himself a churl.
I knew my studies of linguistics and Old and Middle English would pay off someday!
–Da Cap’n
“Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one.”
Oh, and I suppose the English don’t?
Way to prove your point TomH!! 
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” --Whitman