True English

Hi everyone,

What the dickens...

Sure there's no capital letter but I thought this should have something to do with Charles D.

NO! Not at all!

Dickens has got here something to do with the devil, the hell, etc.
This word dickens can be used with What, Who, Where.
In French: "que diable, diantre": "où diable ai-je mis mes clés ?"

That rings a bell, no? Do you remember about "What the hell..." or the very impolite "what the F.... et al".

Example: "to have the dickens of a time doing sth" = "avoir un mal fou à faire qch".
HTH

Hi Muriel,
 
I know them but the third one: "To make a beeline for something". I'm going to investigate.
 
I think it's "He thinks he is the bee's knees"

> To have a bee in one's bonnet
There's also "to put a bee in someone's bonnet (about someone or something)"

Yes, it is the stage before "the guy has a bee..."

Hi everyone,

As every member here knows it, the adjective or let's say the modifier/qualifier is placed before the main word in English.
Examples:
- the blue sky
- the green lawn
- etc.

This leads to completely different acronyms for international organizations:
Examples:
- UN / ONU
- NATO / OTAN
- AIDS / SIDA
- OECD / OCDE
- GMO / OGM
- CVA / AVC
- EU / UE
- etc
this tends to annoy people (both sides)
Sometimes, the French don't translate (and don't mess) like with UNESCO, NASA, NSA, FBI, LED, RADAR, etc.
Sometimes, the French are clever enough to find a matching acronym like with FAQ=Frequently Asked Questions=Foire Aux Questions; I guess it is the only example of this kind
~~
So,
Adjectives and modifiers are placed before the word in English.
but,
Do you know that in a few cases the modifier is placed after? Which cases?
- the case of lakes: Lake Victoria, Lake Michigan...
- the case of mountains: Mount Everest, Mt McKinley... Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams are the 5 volcanoes in Washington State (notice "Glacier Peak" -normal order-)
- unique example: River Thames
The name of a river comes before like with Mississipi river but an exception in London for River Thames; another exception here is that the "Th" is pronounced "T".

I chose to write this in a separate post to better point out the case.

Something that makes EMTs laugh is this English word that the French didn't translate however - can you believe it? they changed the order anyway:

French talkie-walkie -> English walkie-talkie

Now, please, I need your help.

Similarly to what I wrote in my previous post, there're also French words (definitely French) which were taken in English reversing the order.
Does anyone have an example? I had one last week but I cannot remember.

Sorry, Gérard, I can't think of anything right now. But I'll think it over.

I'm sending something funny that I have just received. Have a look at that !

On dit que la langue française est compliquée ...
Français : de 1H58 à 2H02 : « de une heure cinquante-huit à deux heures deux. »
Anglais : « from two to two to two two »

Jusque là, ça va encore, non ?
Bon, alors on monte d'un cran :

Français : Trois sorcières regardent trois montres Swatch. Quelle sorcière regarde quelle montre Swatch ?
Anglais : Three witches watch three Swatch watches. Which witch watches which Swatch watch ?

Vous suivez encore ?
Et maintenant pour les spécialistes...

Français : Trois sorcières suédoises transsexuelles regardent les boutons de trois montres Swatch suisses. Quelle sorcière suédoise transsexuelle regarde quel bouton de quelle montre Swatch suisse ?

Anglais : (accrochez-vous) : Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swedish switched witch watches which Swiss Swatch watch switch ?

Vous pouvez aller vous rhabiller avec vos chasseurs et vos chaussettes sèches !!....

Hi Ghislaine, Muriel,

Thanks for these tongue twisters.
I guess that they have to be pronounced properly by students in theater schools, no (in France they have this kind of exercise)?

Hi everyone,

A few other differences between French and English (you prolly know about them)...

- the 1st day of the week is a Sunday
- the time is displayed on 12 hours with the mention of "am" or "pm"
- the display of a clock is 12:10 whereas it's 0:10 in French - something funny is that the day begins with 12:xx then 1:xx
- English people say 5 and a half kilometer far whereas the French say à 5 kilomètres et demi
- En: 1.01 needs a plural (from a bit over 1); Fr: 1,999 needs a singular (from 2)
- En: 104.36 km is said one hundred and four point three six kilometers (Fr: cent quatre kilomètres (virgule) 36)
- phone numbering: digit said one by one

In everyday's life, there're differences.

Whad else?

... not quite sure but I think that in English a unit never takes a plural ("220 Volt") but it depends on the case. LOL Does anyone know?

Muriel,

MurielB a écrit:

gerardM a écrit:

A - the display of a clock is 12:10 whereas it's 0:10 in French - something funny is that the day begins with 12:xx then 1:xx
-

I don't understand, Gerard, I am sorry !

When you set an English clock, after 11:59, you get 12:00.
When you set a French clock, after 11:59, you get 0:00 (provided it displays the time on 12 hours).
After midnight, the French read 0:01, the Brits read 12:01am so, the morning begins with 12 and 12 is before 1.

Am I right?

Hi Gérard, Muriel,

I don't think you mentioned this :
When a French person counts with his/her hand : he/she starts with the thum, number 1 and finishes with the little finger : number 5.
In England they start with the little finger and finish with the thumb.

Maybe you will remember a film, in which this was one element to prove the true origin of a character who wanted to hide his identity.

Hi Ghislaine,

I didn't know. This is interesting and I'll remember.

 = 5

Hi everyone,

Krystyna was surprised by a false cognate.

When in French we speak about "confection", chances are we're speaking about textile, no?
In English, when they say "textile", they speak about pastry!!

Look into your dictionary.
French "confection" -> English clothing industry, ready-to-wear clothes
English "confection" -> French "pâtisserie, gâteau, confiserie, dessert..."; on a humorous tone, it can mean "robe"

Did you know?
This won't change your daily life but good to know hey!

QED-Quod Erat Demontrandum