Skip to main content

Why Try to Fashion Separate Lexicons?

 French and English terms in couture and prêt easily balance other anyway

English language aficionados have long railed about the plethora of French words in the lexicon, from cliché and carte Blanche to déjà vu and avant-grade. They may be mollified to know that the French have been equally annoyed by the English words that have crept into their language. But the alternative lexic from the French culture ministry, Federation of Feminine Pret-à-Porter and Federal of Haute Couture and Fashion that attempts to exorcise words from across the Channel in that key segment, will prompt irritation and surprise among English votaries. That the French have never bothered to think up words in their own tongue for such fashion basics as T-shirts and jeans, lazily making do with by prefacing the English word with a gender -defining 'le' or 'La', is certainly a faux pas that should have been remedied long ago. Whether Yves Saint Laurent's famous 'le smoking' tuxedo suit would have been as smokin' if it had been called le fumée tailleur is debatable , of course. Terms such as 'streetwear', 'pop-up store' and 'top model' do roll easier off the tongue than 'la mode de la rue'. 'La boutique éphémeré and 'mannequins vedette. But such terms are easily offset by the heavy French presence in English anyway. Both languages should be thankful India has not Tried to indigenise fashion terms. Yet.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Make a Stan for Timeless Art

 One museum's fossil can be an art collector's installation  In December 2019, a real banana duct-taped to a wall, billed as a work called comedian, by the Italian satirical artist Maurizio Cattelan fetched $120,000 at a prestigious art show in Miami. Not long after, another identical work by the same artist was also sold for the same amount.Both buyers were French and they were connoisseurs, not consumers, presumably. Not only did the perishable nature of the art not affect its saleability— a 'performance artist' peeled the banana off the wall and ate it — the work was declared the 'unicorn of the art world'. If that banana symbolised the evenescence of an artistic idea, its timelessness will surely be underlined by the sale of a67 million-year-old composition of bones that is the highlight of Christie's Evening sale of 20the century Art in October in New York.  The 'work' has been named Tyrannosaurus Rex(by paleontologists) and Stan (by its finders...
Post a Comment
Read more

Europe's plague Joke Renaissance

 Laughing at the face of coronavirus is getting contagious in that continent With much of Europe abd Britain getting back under lockdown covers with Covid relurking,  the cradle of dodgy pandemic jokes is having a renaissance. The chaps who brought the world the Teutonic Bubonic Plague Jokebook— the Black Death supposedly the prime reason for Germans losing their sense of humour — are already guffawing with fear. The strategy this time seems to be any dearth of mirth will be the birth of death. So, as cracks like the corona virus also keeping their versions of pub and restaurant timings —it's rule-abiding Europe for the critters too, you see— go viral, who knows, one may even have a new healthy obsession with Eros and Thanatos, rather than a prolonged taste for organic food and EU Rules of Origin Laws.  Remember, this is the continent of the original Coveni, Covidi, Covici( I came down with Covid , I saw Covid, I conqured Covid), not to mention the very name ' Coronavirus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Work on Grining from Year to Year

 That work life is no laughing matter appears to be corroborated by a recent study done by two Standford University academics, who found that cachinnations start becoming less frequent from a median age of 23, or about the time when people get jobs. Whether or not the researchers' prime conclusion– that laughter is " under-leveraged" in offices and can be a gamechanger, professionally , if properly utilized — is solid enough to take Humour Seriously (also the little of their book), it is true that laughter is not exactly a common workplace sound. It is heartening at their survey of the daily laughing habits of 1.4 million people from 166 countries showed that four -year-olds did so up to 300 times a day. But their additional finding that 40 years olds clocked up that same number over 10 weeks is a sobering statistic. Of course, if that cohort also laughed as frequently as four year olds, it would be quite alarming, not to mention distracting, in workplaces.  That laughter...
Post a Comment
Read more