# Why are there no English equivalents to these French words? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100 "2000-02-07T17:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bobby\_O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bobby\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobby_O)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/41 "2000-02-08T20:56:00Z")
Actually Homer stole it and apparently changed it a little, which I guess the english language has done, too. Although I think all languages do it. And they like it. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2000, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/42 "2000-02-09T11:07:00Z")
Nickrz, I don’t see why “steal …” is more appropriate, given that we are not depriving the original language of the word. I beleive that the usual term for these words is “loan-word”. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2000, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/43 "2000-02-09T11:47:00Z")
re schadenfreude: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Irishman: > \*\* In English that’s called “sadism”.\*\* Which comes from that jolly Frenchman Le marquis de Sade… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2000, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/44 "2000-02-09T13:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > How about: > fiancé = betrothed > hors d’oeuvres = appetizer and > [@](#): > > 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_? Sorry to pic a nit, especially so late in the thread, but… “betrothed” and “appetizer” _are_ the English equivalents of the French words; not just definitions. I don’t consider “appetizer” as being French just because it was derived from a French word. Every word in the English language was derived from other languages. The same can be said for most, if not all, of the other languages. Is it true that all English words ending in “-age” are from French? Fuselage, barrage, garage, corsage… My dad used to call _hors d’oeuvres_ “whore’s ovaries”. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRambler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@MidnightRambler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRambler)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/45 "2000-02-10T09:30:00Z")
## acctually the the French term for what we call “hors d’oueuvre” (forgive the spelling) is “entrée” which is quite a bit different than we call an “entrée” Is there a re-hab center for people hooked on phonics? ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/46 "2000-02-10T12:12:00Z")
That confused me when I was in America. What we call a main course, you call an entrée, which is what the French call what we call a starter. (Does that make sense?) ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/47 "2000-02-11T06:36:00Z")
Golly, 65 responses on my first GQ post! TomH, you make a good point about entrée, and how most in the USoA use it as the “main course”. A side note: when I went to Italy, I almost starved during my first meal because everything was served a la carte, rather than the 'merkin way of an all-inclusive meal with a single order (i.e., you order the steak, and you get the taters, beans, and bread, too). AWB makes a good point that I hadn’t thought of: résumé is pretty much accepted as a quasi-English word, though if pressed most would probably admit to its French roots. But I still maintain that _cul-de-sac_ is such an oddball word/phrase, yet we haven’t come up with a more English-like word (I like “keyhole”). Since the topic is somewhat French, doesn’t it irk you when people use RSVP as a noun, as in “send your RSVP to Melvin Froglikker”? ## And while I’m at it, I was browsing through a Lincoln car brochure last week…a real expensive, 16-page full-color job. At the top of one of the pages was the big line “there’s more good parts”. Why would a company spend a zillion dollars on a brochure that had such A) hokey language, or B) an horrific grammatical mistake? This is the same brochure which boasts that the Navigator has a “5 inch CD-ROM display.” Uh-huh. “English, who needs that ? I’m never going to England!” - Homer ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/48 "2000-02-10T19:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Since the topic is somewhat French, doesn’t it irk you when people use RSVP as a noun, as in “send your RSVP to Melvin Froglikker”? What’s more irksome is that people were so ill-mannered that “RSVP” had to be invented in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/49 "2000-02-10T23:29:00Z")
Otto, why would it require rude behavior to invent RSVP? Just because someone is invited to an event does not mean they are available to attend. Whereas the host/hostess would be interested in knowing the actual number who will show up rather than the total list of invitees. Plus whether they are coming alone or with a date. No rude behavior is required. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/50 "2000-02-11T01:54:00Z")
Irishman, I think the point being made is that if people were truly well-mannered, it would be unnecessary to point out the need to respond, because said people would contact the host or hostess to let him/her know whether they were coming without a reminder. * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. “I’m a god. I’m not _the_ God–I don’t think.” --P.C. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/51 "2000-02-12T03:52:00Z")
There was a young girl from Vancouver, Who found out that it’s not horses doover, But she hadn’t the nerve To ask for hors d’oeuvre So had soup as a saving manoeuvre. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/52 "2000-02-12T04:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Irishman, I think the point being made is that if people were truly well-mannered, it would be unnecessary to point out the need to respond, because said people would contact the host or hostess to let him/her know whether they were coming without a reminder. Not only a goddess, but a manners maven! I am truly blessed. ---
**Author:** ![Lawrence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Lawrence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawrence)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2000, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/53 "2000-02-13T02:28:00Z")
Nick, the term “borrow” is standard in linguistics to refer to a language taking a word from another language. You don’t like it, talk to Saussure, Sapir, Labov, Chomsky, and the other folks out there. From Language Files (Ohio State University Dept. of Linguistics, 1985), a standard introductory linguistics text from the past decade, “A…type of change may result when two or more languages are in contact…one language acquires features from another. This development is known as borrowing. The effects of borrowing are most apparent in the lexicon. Frequently, a word is borrowed in order to describe some previously unnamed concept, thereby filling a semantic slot in the borrowing language.” –Lawrence, M.A., Linguistics, Univ. of Kansas, 1994 ---
**Author:** ![Lawrence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Lawrence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawrence)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2000, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100/54 "2000-02-13T05:02:00Z")
Kudos to Matt for a great limerick. I laughed so hard my cat bailed off my lap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-english-equivalents-to-these-french-words/7100.md?page=2)