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French Phrases Used By English Speakers
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. English words of French origin, such as ''art'', ''competition'', ''force'', ''machine'', and ''table'' are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin. This article, on the other hand, covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: they remain unmistakably "French" to an English speaker. They are most common in written English, where they retain French diacritics and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French; an entirely English pronunciation is reg ...
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Anglo-Norman Language
Anglo-Norman, also known as Anglo-Norman French ( nrf, Anglo-Normaund) (Standard French, French: ), was a dialect of Old Norman French that was used in Kingdom of England, England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland during the Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman period. When William the Conqueror led the Norman conquest of England in 1066, he, his nobles, and many of his followers from Normandy, but also those from northern and western France, spoke a range of langues d'oïl (northern varieties of Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance). One of these was Old Norman, also known as "Old Northern French". Other followers spoke varieties of the Picard language or western register (sociolinguistics), registers of general Old French. This amalgam developed into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman French, which was commonly used for literary and eventually administrative purposes from the 12th until the 15th century. It is difficult to know much about ...
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Striding Edge
Helvellyn (; possible meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ullswater. Helvellyn is the third-highest point both in England and in the Lake District, and access to Helvellyn is easier than to the two higher peaks of Scafell Pike and Scafell. The scenery includes three deep glacial coves and two sharp-topped ridges on the eastern side (Striding Edge and Swirral Edge). Helvellyn was one of the earliest fells to prove popular with walkers and explorers; beginning especially in the later 18th century. Among the early visitors to Helvellyn were the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, both of whom lived nearby at one period. Many routes up the mountain are possible so that it may be approached from all directions. However, traversing the mountain is not without dangers; over the last ...
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Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
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Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
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Hors D'œuvre
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or they may be served before seating, such as at a reception or cocktail party. Formerly, hors d'oeuvres were also served between courses.''Oxford English Dictionary'', First Edition, 189''s.v.''/ref> There are two types of hors d'oeuvre from service point of view: # General hors d'oeuvre # Classical hors d'oeuvre General hors d'oeuvres include cold preparations such as salad, cold meat, and fish. Classical hors d'oeuvres include fruit juice and soft drinks, grapefruit, shellfish cocktail, and so on. Typically smaller than a main dish, an hors d'oeuvre is often designed to be eaten by hand. Etymology in French literally means "outside the work"; that is, "not part of the ordinary set of courses in a meal". In practice, it is a ...
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Amuse-bouche
An ''amuse-bouche'' (; ) or ''amuse-gueule'' (, ; ) is a single, bite-sized'' hors d'œuvre''. Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons but are served free and according to the chef's selection alone. These are served both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse of the chef's style. The term is French and literally means "mouth amuser". The plural form may be ''amuse-bouche'' or ''amuse-bouches''. In France, is traditionally used in conversation and literary writing, while ''amuse-bouche'' is not even listed in most dictionaries, being a euphemistic hypercorrection that appeared in the 1980s on restaurant menus and used almost only there. (In French, ''bouche'' refers to the human mouth, while ''gueule'' may mean the mouth or snout of an animal, though commonly used for ''mouth'' and derogatory only in certain expressions.) In restaurants The amuse-bouche emerged as an identifiable course during the nouv ...
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Amour Propre
''Amour-propre'' (; ) is a French term that can be variously translated as "self-love", "self-esteem", or "vanity". In philosophy, it is a term used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who contrasts it with another kind of self-love which he calls '' amour de soi''. According to Rousseau, the difference between the two is that ''amour-propre'' assumes that self-esteem can only be found by gaining the approval of others, whereas ''amour de soi'' involves one's feelings for oneself alone, without any intervening concerns about how one is seen by others. According to Rousseau, ''amour de soi'' is more primitive and is compatible with wholeness and happiness, while ''amour-propre'' is a form of self-love that arose only with the appearance of society and individuals' consequent ability to compare themselves with one another. Rousseau thought that ''amour-propre'' was subject to corruption, thereby causing vice and misery. But in addition, by guiding us to seek others' approval and recognition, ...
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Aide-mémoire
Aide-mémoire (, "memory aid") is a French loanword meaning "a memory-aid; a reminder or memorandum, especially a book or document serving this purpose". In international relations, an aide-mémoire is a proposed agreement or negotiating text circulated informally among delegations for discussion without committing the originating delegation's country to the contents. It has no identified source, title, or attribution and no standing in the relationship involved. Such a text is also referred to as a non-paper in many international organizations, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization and sometimes within the European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been .... See also * Note Verbale References Diplomatic documents Wo ...
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à Propos
À, à ( a-grave) is a letter of the Catalan, Emilian-Romagnol, French, Galician, Italian, Maltese, Occitan, Portuguese, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, and Welsh languages consisting of the letter A of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and a grave accent. À is also used in Pinyin transliteration. In most languages, it represents the vowel ''a''. This letter is also a letter in Taos to indicate a mid tone. When denoting quantity, à means "each": "5 apples à $1" (one dollar each). That usage is based upon the French preposition à and has evolved into the at sign (@). Sometimes, it is part of a surname: Thomas à Kempis, Mary Anne à Beckett. Usage in various languages Emilian-Romagnol À is used in Emilian to represent short stressed e.g. Bolognese dialect ''sacàtt'' aˈkatː"sack". French À is used in the French language to differentiate homophones, e.g. the third person conjugation of ''a'' " e/she/ithas" and ''à'' "at, in, and to". Portuguese ...
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Pleonasm
Pleonasm (; , ) is redundancy in linguistic expression, such as "black darkness" or "burning fire". It is a manifestation of tautology by traditional rhetorical criteria and might be considered a fault of style. Pleonasm may also be used for emphasis, or because the phrase has become established in a certain form. Tautology and pleonasm are not consistently differentiated in literature. Usage Most often, ''pleonasm'' is understood to mean a word or phrase which is useless, clichéd, or repetitive, but a pleonasm can also be simply an unremarkable use of idiom. It can aid in achieving a specific linguistic effect, be it social, poetic or literary. Pleonasm sometimes serves the same function as rhetorical repetition—it can be used to reinforce an idea, contention or question, rendering writing clearer and easier to understand. Pleonasm can serve as a redundancy check; if a word is unknown, misunderstood, misheard, or if the medium of communication is poor—a wireless telephon ...
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Oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical device to illustrate a rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox. A more general meaning of "contradiction in terms" (not necessarily for rhetoric effect) is recorded by the '' OED'' for 1902. The term is first recorded as Latinized Greek ', in Maurus Servius Honoratus (c. AD 400); it is derived from the Greek word ' "sharp, keen, pointed" Retrieved 2013-02-26. and "dull, stupid, foolish"; as it were, "sharp-dull", "keenly stupid", or "pointedly foolish".. Retrieved 2013-02-26. "Pointedly foolish: a witty saying, the more pointed from being paradoxical or seemingly absurd." The word ''oxymoron'' is autological, i.e. it is itself an example of an oxymoron. The Greek compound word ', which would correspond to the Latin formation, does not se ...
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