French Society: Anglicism vs Gallicism

This week during our French Society meeting we looked at Anglicism vs Gallicism in the English and French languages. We explored the various historical and cultural influences that resulted in English words firmly rooted in the French language like “football” (1880s) or “chewing-gum” (1940s) or indeed “cool” (pronounced with a French accent). We also looked at French words in the English language and the Sixth Form made up some funny mini-stories where the challenge was to use as many ‘Gallicisms’ as possible. As you can see in the below results, there are a lot of French words we use all the time when we speak English.

En route to my rendezvous in a cul-de-sac, I had a deja-vu as I was eating a croissant and a pain au chocolat, about melting chocolate in a bain-marie. Then I went on to the patisserie to buy a baguette, macaron and eclairs. After I bought the food, I decided to go to the mall to buy some haute couture and ballet shoes as well as some rouge for my face.

I had a rendezvous to play petanque and had a déjà vu as I played. I stopped off to get some mange tout and croissants. I asked what my friend’s favourite cuisine was and after I served escargots and fruit de mer, I said ‘bon appetit’ and ‘sante’. Unfortunately, he preferred to go to the patisserie so I put on my best gilet.