Parlez-vous français

[jclalor 12]

No wonder we are the laughing stock of the world, only here would you be belittled for speaking a second language.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFaWhygzjQ

[DiverMike 5]

Is that for real? If so, I hereby personally apologize to the rest of the world. Please don't think all Americans are self-absorbed asses. Just most of us.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[lawrocket 3]

I don’t get sound on my work computer. (It sucks more than it sounds). Mais je parle un peu de francais. Je suis un grand enmerdeur.

That aside, I do think that it is important to realize that we ARE speaking French. And old English. They merged into Middle English when William of Normandy (yes, there used to be French bad asses) conquered England in 1066. French merged with English, and we see the effects to this day.

The French thought themselves better than anyone (a legacy which continues to this day) and French was the proper way to say things. The old English way was considered to be vulgar. We see this in modern English as well.

The French term is “perspire.” Old English – “sweat”
French – petite. English – small
Urine – piss
Excrement – shit
Fornicate – fuck

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Southern_Man 0]

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That aside, I do think that it is important to realize that we ARE speaking French. And old English. They merged into Middle English when William of Normandy (yes, there used to be French bad asses) conquered England in 1066.

Actually William the Conquerer and his ancestors were Vikins who had captured Normandy from the French. Although they had lived there for a couple generations and were French speaking.

Just as a linguistic aside, there are also Scandanavian cognates that became part of English at the same time, such as Earl (from Jarl).

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[masterrig 1]

Where I live, it's almost mandatory to speak a second language... Spanish. Which is becoming more prevalent.
Noone I know of is belittled for it.

Chuck

[winsor 236]

Pardon my French.

[tkhayes 348]

It's just more of the same old republican party self-destructing in front of everyone, but unable to see it themselves.

[GeorgiaDon 380]

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It's just more of the same old republican party self-destructing in front of everyone, but unable to see it themselves.

While it might be nice to think so (for some), the attention span of the American public is so short that all this will be dead and buried by the time the election comes around. Many past primary campaigns were quite nasty, yet little evidence of that was seen at the polls. It's kind of like a basketball game where it all comes down to who sinks the last basket (or gets in the last attack ad) a millisecond before the buzzer to win by 2 points; all the back-and-forth of the game counts for little and the first half often could be skipped entirely.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[piisfish 140]

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Pardon my French.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSeaDQ6sPs0 with this you will be able to survive with the french (even french canadians)

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[wmw999 2,588]

And for the French travelling in the US

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Skyrad 0]

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The French term is “perspire.” Old English – “sweat”
French – petite. English – small
Urine – piss
Excrement – shit
Fornicate – fuck

Please tell me you're joking.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[Andy9o8 2]

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William of Normandy

His pals called him "billnorm".

[DFWAJG 4]

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The French term is “perspire.” Old English – “sweat”
French – petite. English – small
Urine – piss
Excrement – shit
Fornicate – fuck

Please tell me you're joking.

If this is totally useless information, it is true.

[SpeedRacer 1]

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No wonder we are the laughing stock of the world, only here would you be belittled for speaking a second language.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFaWhygzjQ

they done rote the bible in 'merican, so that's good enuff fer me.

Speed Racer
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[Skyrad 0]

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The French term is “perspire.” Old English – “sweat”
French – petite. English – small
Urine – piss
Excrement – shit
Fornicate – fuck

Please tell me you're joking.

If this is totally useless information, it is true.

As Lawrocket is a pretty smart guy I can only presume that he had his tongue firmly in his cheek. Most of these words are Latin in etamology and the 'English' words are mostly slang. As for the 'history' don't get me started.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[wmw999 2,588]

Well, um -- they're Latin in etymology because they came from Old French. And the slang terms, if you look up the etymology, really do come from old Anglo-Saxon and/or Germanic terms.

Except for piss. That comes from the French pisser

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)