78
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Is there an English equivalent for "Les carottes sont cuites", while keeping the vegetable reference?
Although this isn't about vegetables specifically, I'm going to add it anyway—just so it doesn't get lost if comments are removed:
His goose is cooked.
From Wiktionary's entry for goose is cooked:
(...
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52
votes
Accepted
Etymology of "fairy"
According to Wiktionary, Galician, Catalan and Occitan have a word fada "fairy" and Italian has fata with the same meaning, which seems like a clear confirmation of a Vulgar Latin form *fata meaning "...
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50
votes
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Why have English words adopted the feminine version of French words with -if endings?
The suffix comes from the latin suffix -ivus (pronounced [iːwus]). In French, Latin declensions gradually eroded, so the suffix became -ive, ending with a [v] sound (a common evolution from the Latin [...
46
votes
Accepted
What do we call a price that is chosen by a customer?
The phrase "Pay what you can" is used.
Pay what you can (PWYC) is a non-profit or for-profit business model which does not depend on set prices for its goods, but instead asks customers to ...
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36
votes
Translate the French quote "Il n’y a pas d'amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour" to English?
If you're looking for a similar saying in English, you could use:
Actions speak louder than words.
Which Cambridge Dictionary says means
what you do is more important than what you say, because ...
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28
votes
Is there an English equivalent for "Les carottes sont cuites", while keeping the vegetable reference?
You could say, "Stick a fork in him, he's done" -- which is an analogy to baked potatoes that would be commonly understood to mean that the subject is dead or otherwise expired, in North America at ...
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28
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What do you call the art of 'proper' bearing? (French 'maintien')
I would suggest deportment. Oxford Dictionaries says that the meaning of the way a person stands and walks, particularly as an element of etiquette is a particularly British usage. My old French ...
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25
votes
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Translate the French quote "Il n’y a pas d'amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour" to English?
The French proverb implies that the expression of love indicates the sole reality of love.
The proof is in the pudding
implies
that the real worth, success, or effectiveness of something can only be ...
- 16.3k
24
votes
Is there an English equivalent for "Les carottes sont cuites", while keeping the vegetable reference?
The phrase that comes to my mind is:
He's had his chips
From Farlex Dictionary of Idioms:
To be defeated; to fail completely; to die or be killed.
Now, being British, to me "chips" are what ...
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21
votes
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Are there examples of mutual loanwords in French and in English?
From comment:
As I once commented on an earlier question, quoting from a cross-Channel ferry announcement,
"Ladies and gentleman, the buffet is now open. Mesdames et messieurs, le snack-bar est ...
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19
votes
Accepted
Double meaning of relief
You’ve already made the right choice, because relief is the precise and correct word for what you want. It is pronounced the same way that its homograph is, the one you mentioned being about feelings ...
- 137k
18
votes
What is the English pronunciation of "pain au chocolat"?
In Britain, I think it's normal to use (at least an approximation of) the French pronunciation.
To address your point about why many more people anglicise "croissant", I think there's a distinction ...
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17
votes
Origin of the phrase "to have no truck with"
Have no truck with:
“Truck” came from the French word (troc) for “barter.” Originally, if you had no truck with somebody, you refused to trade with him or her. By extension it came to mean you ...
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17
votes
Why does English use the French "sans" for sans serif?
The short answer is that we don't know for sure. Sans serif is a compound formed in English between the long-used English preposition from French sans and serif, most likely invented by printers ...
- 41.7k
16
votes
What do you call the art of 'proper' bearing? (French 'maintien')
In English, maintien is called posture: The idea is to have good or proper posture.
Also, there is good bearing, to have good bearing but that is not good for a course name and is old fashioned
The ...
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16
votes
Why “nouveau riche” but “art nouveau?”
The word order is unrelated to English, both art nouveau and nouveau riche are set expressions in French.
Art nouveau could have been equally called nouvel art but the first form was picked for some ...
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15
votes
Translate the French quote "Il n’y a pas d'amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour" to English?
talk is cheap
From https://grammarist.com/idiom/talk-is-cheap/ :
The phrase talk is cheap means it is easier to talk about doing
something than to actually do that thing. Many people say they ...
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14
votes
What do we call a price that is chosen by a customer?
Common in English is "Name your price", or "Name your own price".
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13
votes
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Debutante in a sporting context?
Further to GEdgar and oerkelen's explanations it probably makes sense to use gender-neutral language. Some options are:
novice
rookie
newcomer
new kid on the block
That said, as far as ...
- 7,199
13
votes
Are there examples of mutual loanwords in French and in English?
Garage (borrowed in English) and Parking (borrowed in French) can both refer to a building used for storing cars.
Garage : Etymology :
Borrowed from French garage (“keeping under cover, protection, ...
- 231
12
votes
Accepted
Is it "en route to" or just "en route"?
It depends. If you are "en route to the party," then you use "en route to." If you are "stopping for lunch en route," then you use "en route."
Dictionary.com shows the "en route from" sentence ...
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12
votes
Is there an English equivalent for "Les carottes sont cuites", while keeping the vegetable reference?
There probably isn't anything quite like what you're looking for, unfortunately. A quick perusal of wikipedia's list of death expressions and death euphemisms, as well as a glace at some lists of ...
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12
votes
Accepted
(Mis-)pronunciation of ‘accoutrement’ that ends in -L not in -NT?
John Lawler wrote in a comment:
A nasalized vowel, especially a final one, like the French /ɑ̃/ at the end of accoutrement, could easily be misheard by an English speaker who didn't know French, as a ...
11
votes
Debutante in a sporting context?
No. It may be her debut appearance. Or her rookie appearance. But not her debutante appearance.
You are correct that, in English, debutante refers the introduction to high society.
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