| 词汇 | french |
| 词源 | French. The prejudice that anything French is wicked, sexual, and decadent has let Frenchmen in for more than their fair share of abuse in English. Many such expressions date back to 1730– 1820, the height of Anglo-French enmity, but some are current and others go back even further. french leave and french dis- ease are covered in entries following; for French letter or French cap see condom. At one time French by injection, like its Dutch counterpart, meant any English woman living with a Frenchman. French kiss for the lingual “soul kiss”; French fare, overelaborate politeness; French postcards, “dirty” prints; and pardon my French for “excuse my strong language” are all familiar expressions. By no means are such phrases confined to English, either. In Prussia, for example, lice are called Franzosen. The French, however, have done their share of international name-calling, too. Their word for a louse is espagnol (Spanish), for a flea espagnole (Spanish woman), and for a creditor they once said un anglais (an Englishman). The French phrase for a dirty trick is a Chinese trick, their red tape is chinoiserie, their expression for our that’s Greek to me is that’s He- brew to me; our Dutch courage is their German happiness, and our Dutch treat is their going Swiss. As recently as the early ’60s they in- troduced la vice anglaise as a synonym for homosexuality. On the whole English reflects admiration for the French exceeding any animosity. There are some 100 words prefixed with French and most of them recognize French expertise. Among the most com- mon are French cuffs, French heel, French twist, French cleaning, French roof, French doors and windows, French kiss, French tele- phone, French harp, French horn, French cuisine, French dressing, French endive, French bread, French ice cream, French pancake, French pastry, French toast, French fried and French fries. |
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