BOC#021 Box of Chocolates
Misogamy, French, Fruits, Ken Follett, and Robert Wright
3 MINUTE MUNCH
WHY DO WE SAY ‘PARDON MY FRENCH’…?
Following the invasion of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, French became the language of the aristocracy. When William was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas day in 1066, the ceremony was carried out in English and Latin, although William spoke French throughout. It is believed that he later tried to learn English but gave up. French thus became the language of the elite, while the laity continued to speak English. Over time, the common language eventually swung back to English, leaving some 7000 French words in the new vocabulary. To say ‘pardon my French’ was to apologise for the use of French words that might not have been understood by English speakers.
With so many French derived words in the English language, the modern English speaker is offered a much broader range of words from which to choose. Consider the Germanic word ‘clothes’ and the French derived word ‘garments’ for example; both can be used interchangeably, but the latter has French origins, and is thus considered to possess a bit more class.
Other words that are derived from French are ‘army’ (from armée), ‘archer’ (from archer), ‘soldier’ (from soudier), and ‘guard’ (from garde). French words also changed our culinary vocabulary. The English word ‘sheep’ became ‘mutton’ in French, while ‘calf’ became ‘veal’, ‘deer’ became ‘venison’, and ‘pig’ became ‘pork’.
DID YOU KNOW…
Modern fruits have been artificially selected to be significantly more sugary than they once were. As Bill Bryson* writes, “The fruits that Shakespeare ate were, for the most part, no sweeter than the modern carrot.”
PASSAGE FROM PILLARS OF THE EARTH BY KEN FOLLETT*:
“She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly.”
ON THIS DAY: 26TH MAY…
…Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned king of Italy. He had already declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804, and went on to crown himself King of Italy in 1805. He was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, (believed to contain a nail from the crucifixion of Jesus), which took place in Milan Cathedral.
In 2014, Narendra Modi became the 15th Prime Minister of India, and having since won three consecutive elections, remains India’s Prime Minister today.
It’s also National Paper Airplane Day.
MISOGAMIST VS MISOGYNIST…
The first hates marriage, the second hates women.
“ASK YOUR CHILD…
…what he wants for dinner only if he’s buying” - Fran Lebowitz
ROBERT WRIGHT ON THE DISUNITY BETWEEN MODERN LIFE AND HUMAN NATURE:
“This disjunction between the contexts of our design and of our lives is probably responsible for much psychopathology, as well as much suffering of a less dramatic sort.” - The Moral Animal*
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