As a French guy, I was a few times confused when English speaking people would say « ouh la laaaaa » with a weird look. Apparently it has a kinky meaning which is not the case at all in French. Very bewildering to me
You have the same problem with the word "burlesque", "ouh la laaa" in the USA refers to some burlesque show. And in France "ouh la laa" can be part of an old fashion burlesque show. But for the french that means ludricrous / comedy , for the american that means erotic.
In France a "première" for a movie is the first projection for the general public, accessible to anyone, an "Avant-première" is generaly 1 or few projection before the official "sortie" of the movie, so before the day the movie will be available in every theatre
Native French speaker here, very educational even for French people. Your content is very acurrate most of the time, your channel deserves more attention from both native English speakers and us French people
In french, the "première" in the theater, is the first public session. So the session before, not public but with critics, is the "avant-première" : before the first public session.
The word "rencard" is short for rendez-vous in French but it has a connotation of a date. So I would translate "rendez-vous" in English into "rencard" in French.
For the première thing i think it comme from the théâtre in which the 1st official public showing of a play is called "la première" and for movies we called "avant-première" because it is shown before the official release date
Also in theatres you have a series of first which are technically the last rehearsals but open to an audience of crirics and pros, so the premiere is the first for the general (fully paying) audience. I think.
Here (in Quebec), we have the same distinction. The avant-première of a movie is only for critics and the film industry and usually the day before the première which is for the general public.
I was curious about the parfait because we (in Quebec) also use this word to refer to a yogurt desert. A "parfait" is also a desert in French. I checked two dictionaries (Le Petit Robert and a dictionary published in Quebec) and both referred to a frozen dessert made of creme, but that isn't ice cream nor sorbet. I also check in an old French "pâtisserie" cooking book and their "parfait" look like a cake. The English word "mundane" absolutely doesn't have the same meaning then the French word "mondain", even though they sound the same.
Yes. A Parfait is what we French calll " un entremets" : a half soft/ half gelified creamy frozen dessert, almost à pudding , usually in a rectangle cake shape. It's not so trendy nowadays but it was until the 1950's. ( Parfait au café was a thing back then)
Le parfait est effectivement un dessert, souvent glacé. On n'en entend pas souvent parler en France, mais ça existe. Je connaissais le terme, et ça inclut souvent de fines tranches de fruit et une crême. Je pense que c'est l'origine du parfait au yaourt des américains.
I remember learning the REAL meaning of our borrowed French words when I started learning the language and was stunned at how we've really twisted some words. Even English to American English can be so very different, sometimes.
Very good choices. When I saw the title of your video, I immediately thought of "touché", "risqué" and "rendez-vous". I think it's funny how "risqué" and "rendez-vous" take on a sensual connotation in English. It's kinda like when English-speaking people say "oh là là" because they're talking about something scandalous when, in French, it's used to react strongly in any kind of context (excitement, surprise, frustration, anger). Also, I agree with what you said about "avant-première". Personally, I've always said "avant-première" and I've never heard anyone just say "première". My sister, who works at a movie theater, says the same.
Interesting and funny 😆 👩🏫 I think “date” is pretty new and maybe more used by younger French... the synonym who comes in my mind is “rencard” (it’s way more familiar than rendez-vous).
There's a difference between appetizer and entrée in French too though, mozzarella sticks or anything would be aperitif (drunk with some alcohol) and THEN the entrée (often a salad), the mb the plat principal, and fromage and/or dessert
@@palupalu5647 Le digestif c'est plutôt après le café, d'ailleurs beaucoup mettent un alcool fort de type eau de vie dans la tasse encore tiède ce qui libère les aromes.
That's even up to 60% of english language borrowed from french, according to some estimations... Some words even did the travel twice: french "poulenet" (shortening for "poulain", meaning "foal") became "pony" in english, which came back in french as "poney" for designating not foals, but these well-known little horses. And now, most people think that "poney" is an english word / anglicism... While it's a pure french word. That's the same for "tennis", which comes from "tenez!" ("Here you are!") which was said during service when playing "jeu de paume" ("palm game"), an ancestor of the modern tennis played directly with bare hands. The "jeu de paume" is also the reason why tennis points are counted "0-15-30-40", because it was initially a distance (in feets) from the net.
it's hard to have a hard estimate on % French loan words. Many French words from Latin. Many English come from French, which may or may not come from Latin. Some words are unclear if they came from Latin via French (majority) or came straight to English (and to French in parallel). I love etymologies! Very interesting and confusing.
I do like the fact that Americans took a word from french language and use it differently, maybe just because of the good sound of the word. That's precisely how a language is moving foward. In French we also invent some english-like word that doesn't exist in english : parking, shampoing, ball-trap, baskets(shoes), baby-foot, brushing, baba cool....
In the chopped off area there is also « robe » which is for the french « robe de chambre « , while robe by itself is actually a dress 😉 got me so confused at first in the us🤣
« À la mode » is also a French culinary terme, that is not only used for desserts. You have dishes like « Bœuf à la mode » (bœuf = beef). I guess that it was originally a way of describing a dish made according to a particular trend of cooking at the time. Nowadays, « à la mode » recipes are perceived as old fashion and very traditional. There’s also a very old French folk song that every French kid knows which lyrics are « Savez-vous planter les choux ? (Tr: Do you know how to plant cabbages ?); À la mode, à la mode… ; Savez-vous planter les choux ?; À la mode de chez nous (Tr: The way we do it around here) ». Concerning « Rendez-vous », to be confirmed by German natives, but a German friend once told me that they used this French expression specifically to refer to a date for gay males (‘was a while ago I heard that, so it may not be still the case).
Tout à fait, par contre on dira "à la mode de qq chose" ; dire juste "à la mode", c'est comme "maitre d'", ça a un lien avec le sens français, mais il manque un bout en fait.
I always thought that the American use of the world « touché » came from the game battleship which is called « Touché coulé » in French (when a ship is hit we say « touché »)
En France il y a des dates officielles de sorties des films, et sauf rare exception c'est le mercredi. Toute séance ayant lieu avant cette date est qualifiée de "avant première". Ce n'est pas nécessairement pour les pros du cinéma ou avec des pros de ce film qui viennent répondre aux questions du public. Ca peut être simplement une séance le mardi d'avant, la veille. Actuellement (enfin avant la covid) ces avant première sont utilisées pour booster les chiffres de fréquentation de la première semaine d'exploitation, vu qu'ils sont comptés dans la première semaine.
For the Entrée, i am used to Starter.. As for Maître d', you explained it with another English word : Head Waiter when the French equivalent is Maître d' hôtel... But you have so many examples of it in the food industry : sauteed, jus, purée, casserolle... I also like the season 'finale' to describe the last episode of a season.. Which isn' t a proper use of the word.. However, some of them are quite right : cul de sac, en route...
"finale" was taken from Italian. As is the case in French, when you say "le finale de la saison est magistral", you are supposed to write it with an e, even though "final" is now also accepted.
Rendez vous in English is also used in military language to actually reunite two or more units at the same point. Space maneuvers also used that term when two spacecraft find eachother and get closer on visual range before docking. Touché, I don't remember hearing my English friends saying that, I only heard Americans say it. So as to know how it came that way into the US English, I guess it is a question of context. Lots of French soldiers and officers were helping the young Revolutionary American army, probably trained them, fenced wuith them and taught them artillery tactics. No wonder then how the word was used in American English the same way it is used in Fencing or Artillery.
In French, the full name of "Maitre d'" is "Maitre d'hotel". But, I fell on "Maitre d'" is some novel before, and I was like "Did they forgot a bit of the word ? That's so strange !! The rereader has make a mistake !! There is a fault in my book !! Ho, they have make the mistake several time is a row ... ... So I supposed ... it's normal ? But still feel strange ..."
Just to nitpick, calling an appetizer an "entrée" is very American. I have never heard it in Canada or Australia. If you have heard it in Montreal, then maybe it is starting to bleed across the border like "black Friday ". About à la mode.... I think a piece of pie with ice cream on top is very stylish! Very chic. À la mode, one might even say :-) As a Montrealer living in Charlotte NC and planning to retire in Paris, I really enjoy your videos
That was fun! I was worried - more than a bit (It's Sunday morning: I haven't had coffee yet.) - that I was using "C'est la vie!" or "Et Violà!" or "Bon Weekend!" wrong.
Hi! Good video as always! Love your channel. Talking about the word « rendez-vous » and the fact that there’s no word in French with the same romantic meaning actually there used to be one but it’s no longer used by young people now. And when you use it you sound like an old schmuck, it’s the word « rencard » which would be the equivalent of a date. « J’ai un rencard » is very much like « i have a date ». But again people don’t really use it a lot anymore. It’s very 70’s, 80’s. Thanks again for all your great videos!
@@Laurent69ftm you’re actually right. I recently talked with a 15 year old and she told that it is still being used. I just haven’t heard it being used for a while that’s why I thought it had somewhat disappeared.. my mistake!
To help American tourists coming in France or French tourists goind to the US, the Filet Mignon is a Pork filet in France and it is a Beef filet in the US.
Maybe the ice-cream on top of a piece of apple pie originates from the meaning of "à la mode [des Américains]", maybe, maybe? I don't know at all but as "à la mode de" means "like; in the style of; as," etc. it may come from that meaning???
Thanks for your enthousiasm but somee of these are Americanisms and not used in regular English. The use of parfait for a yogurt dessert, entrée as a main meal, a la mode for ice cream addition are not recognised in the UK.
My pet-peeve is some Americans use "fiancé" and "fiancée" interchangeably. I have read : My fiancé Suzanne or my fiancée Robert. When they don't use the first name, I don't know if it's a same-sex couple.
I wonder if parfait was stated as a way to say thank you or that looks great. Now a days people do something similar, especially people in the service industry, will say perfect when they mean thank you or that's right. Doesn't entre mean between? So the main dish is between the salad and the dessert. I think that is why they say it that way. Maitre d'hôtel is the manager of the restaurant. For 'premiere' I think that it is interesting to note that French came to control English twice in history. One was William the conqueror in 1066 and another time later on. So that is why there is some confusion on the actual meaning of some of the loan words. I think that it is cute that they wash their hair with shampooing and park their car in a parking (lot). I am sure that it is because of the American influence through movies and music and the British influence of money.
- Word "Début" is also weirdly used in product marketing in my opinion and I don't really understand the difference. I would like to know :) - Conoisseur... funny thing it comes from old french Conoistre but is now never used in French. But many english speakers think it is on regular basis - the famous "déja-vu" of Neo in the matrix. I think french people would say "c'est du déja vu, du déja vu, j'ai déja vu" but rarerely just the two words - sacre bleu, "ce je ne sais quoi".. more used in english than in French :) Thanks for the video !
About "sacre bleu" / "nom de bleu", I would say almost nobody say it now, but both my grandfathers used to say it a lot. I think it was more used when french people were a lot more into the religion, because they used "bleu" instead of "Dieu". They used to change the word to "bleu", because if not, it was considered as a blasphemy
Franklyn Roosevelt once said that America had "a rendezvous with destiny". And growing up in the 60s and 70s there wasn't much of a sexual connotation. It may have changed during the great pasta shift of the 1980s when noodles, spaghetti, linguine, etc suddenly became 'pasta'.
Le mots rendez - vous romantique pouvait être remplacer par rencard, mais je pense que le mots n'est plus à la mode. Généralement lorsque l'on coupe un mots c'est pour aller plus vite. Merci por la vidéos
I think "entrée" in french isn't the appetizer.. "entrée" in french, is a cold dish served just before the main dish (salad, foie gras, charcuterie, raw vegetables (carrots, radish, cabbage etc), or even all the savoury jelly type of dish, "terrines" (fish or meat), "patés" (rillettes) ) served at the table... not to confuse with the "amusebouche" (all the oven cooked bits, or things like "pig in a blanket", little toast bread with various savoury things on it called "canapés" in french) which are usually served before the table is set, during the "apero", or completely outside of diners (in parties and meetings)..
For a date people used to say Rendez-Vous galant, but this expression is a bit old fashion, young people are now using the word Date in English, but this is kind of a new habit
Bonjour Katie (je ne suis pas du tout sûr de l'orthographe), J'ignorais totalement l'usage du "Maître D" pour maître d'hôtel aux USA. C'est vrai que dit comme ça sans la suite, ça rend ce grade de restauration plutôt mystérieux. Ça fait un peu penser à un nom de DJ ou de rappeur des années 90. On verrait bien "Maître D" avec une casquette sur la tête et une énorme chaine en or autour du cou plutôt qu'en costume noir et chemise blanche, et plutôt derrière un micro ou des platines de mixage que en train de s'assurer que le client de la 7 a bien été servi en vin ou a encore du pain dans sa corbeille. :)) Pour la "première", il semble que l'anglicisation du terme gagne de plus en plus de terrain en France. Surtout depuis que le cinéma américain et français partagent de plus en plus les mêmes festivals, les mêmes réalisateurs, les mêmes acteurs aussi, plateaux télé, etc. En effet, j'entend de plus en plus ce terme ici pour désigner ce qui est normalement et comme vous l'avez souligné une "avant-première", c'est à dire une projection qui a lieu "à guichets fermés" (autre expression française lol) avant la sortie officielle (cette dernière est le plus souvent payante au contraire de "l'avant première" qui elle est basée sur des "invitations") en salle, idem pour n'importe quel spectacle (pièce de théâtre, tournée musicale, nouvelle revue d'un cabaret, etc.) présenté sur scène avant la "première" officielle qui est celle "à guichets ouverts" donc, et destinée au public. Pour le "rendez-vous" c'est un des premiers truc qu'on apprend en cours d'anglais en France, qu'il ne faut surtout pas employer le terme "rendez-vous" dans les pays anglo-saxons car pour vous il est synonyme de "flirt". Ce qui n'est pas du tout le cas comme vous l'avez aussi évoqué en France. Pour terminer, merci d'avoir fait l'effort de parler moins vite et de mieux articuler maintenant. Je pense que comme moi, beaucoup plus de français arrivent à mieux suivre vos vidéos qu'avant et vous en sont reconnaissants. Pour ma part, maintenant j'arrive à regarder vos vidéos sans avoir besoin de ralentir la vitesse de lecture (lol, c'est ce que je faisais assez souvent dans les premières vidéos que vous avez publiées quand vous alliez vraiment trop vite pour moi. Mais la durée de la vidéo devenait alors plus conséquente) et même si j'active toujours les sous-titres, j'arrive bien plus souvent à suivre sans trop les lire. Cdt,
@@norbertfontaine8524 Bonjour, Non, Katie parle moins vite et articule mieux maintenant. Je pense ne pas avoir été le seul à le lui demander. Elle a tout simplement pris conscience au fil des années qu'il y avait de plus en plus de français qui suivaient ses vidéos, peut-être même plus que des anglo-saxons aujourd'hui. Au début sa chaîne était uniquement destinée aux américain(e)s désirant s'installer en France ou y effectuer des études. Elle partageait son expérience et prodiguait ses conseils en ce sens. Maintenant, la chaîne est bien plus généraliste et de fait, ménage un peu plus la chèvre et le choux. Il lui a fallu un certain temps d'adaptation. Ce qui est tout fait normal. Cdt,
Non, l'utilisation de "première" en français n'est pas un anglicisme qui "gagne de plus en plus de terrain". On n'a pas eu besoin des anglophones pour l'utiliser dans ce sens. Je n'ai pas cherché beaucoup, mais j'ai trouvé une utilisation du terme aussi tôt que 1888.
@@louisfrancisco2171 Bonjour, Nous parlons du terme "première" qui serait utilisé "abusivement" pour désigner une "avant-première". On ne dit pas non plus que cet "abus" de langage n'a jamais été commis avant en France. On dit qu'l a tendance à se généraliser. Cdt,
You should do some basic research... "parfait", in french, is also used to designate the french desert recipe, so english speaking people just use it correctly.
J'ai vu en Irlande des panneaux "Cul de sac" à l'entrée d'une impasse. Ce terme français est-il utilisé aux USA ? I saw "Cul de sac" signs in Ireland at the entrance to a dead end. Is this French term used in the USA?
i've definitely seen cul de sac in american tv/film and it's only ever referred to a residential cul de sac in the suburbs rather than just dead end streets that also exist in the middle of cities or the countryside.
I have been using a word, that I believe is French, that implies a "meaningless quote, expression" and don't know how to spell it. Example. "They are known for quoting things as a _______ that has no meaning to their life." I can guess that it starts with a "c" cla-say. ??
I disagree for the Parfait :) :) :) :) :) => It is a desert also!! Anglo-saxon had it right this time ;) : see wikipedia "Un parfait est un dessert glacé sans cuisson à base de crème fraîche et d'œufs et d'un élément donnant le parfum (alcool, purée de fruits frais ou secs, vanille...)."
No. "Maître DE français" (actually "maîtreSSE de français" as she's a woman, and "d' " is the compact variant of "de") is technically correct, but not used at all outside of children's schools and seldom inside. We're more likely to say "professeur de français" and we almost always say "prof de français". You can say "maître d'escrime" (master/teacher of... Swordfight? Something else?) or "maître d'armes" (master/teacher/coach of any kind weapons... and any kind of fight, old expression but still widely understood.)
Well… This game had been played back and forth by both sides for a long, long time… Burning down a rebel girl teenager in Orléans was not particularly friendly either… Call it even ? More seriously, a lot of the French expressions currently used in English language (and the other way around) date from long after our medevial territorial bickerings, so there must be something else to it.
"Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I don't know that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you are trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually CERULEAN" sorry that's all I had in mind when I saw your blue sweater 😆
So americans call appetizers their entrée, and entree their pièce de résistance. How do they call the actual appetizers then? What you have with cocktails and apéritif ?
We don't separate the two, because we don't have an "apéro" separate from the meal. We have cocktails at the beginning of the meal with appetizers, and then go straight into the "entrée". 😉
@@ameliecarre4783 😂😂😂Yes, we basically choose between the two, depending on what "level" of meal you're having. If we 're just having burgers with friends, the appetizers will be fries, nachos, chips and dip, etc. If it's a more formal and/or upscale dinner, it'll be more like a French "entrée".
You think you have abused french words? In greek we took the word "cabinet" and made it a slang word for the WC. No idea why! "Retiré" became the definition for a flat that is on the last floor and usually has a big terrace. Which I guess makes more sense than "cabinet" but still... Also we use "parfait" for a kind of ice cream but in this case the recipe originated from France with the same name so I'll give it a pass. Finally, and this is really ridiculous, we took the word "serviette", transformed it into "servietta" and presto, that's how we call sanitary pads.
