srah blah blah

A voice crying out in confusion

I've decided to change the French language. I'll start, and the rest of you follow, okay? All together now, allez hop! ... oh. No one? Fine, I'll have to do it all by myself.

Whereas we have only one, the French have two words for "scarf". A foulard is a gauzy, drapey thing, often made of silk. An echarpe is a warm winter scarf. My problem is that no matter how many times I tell it, my brain refuses to absorb these words because it feels wrong.

To me, the word echarpe sounds elegant. It sounds like "sharp", which is how we might describe the dress of someone who wears silk scarves. Foulard, on the other hand, sounds heavy and woollen. It sounds like "muffler" does.

I can't resign myself to using the words the way the French do, so I just won't. And then no one will understand me. So I probably will end up using them the right way, but at least I will have made my point in this thrilling blog-post. Nyah.

srah - Thursday, 7 November 2002 - 12:17 PM
Tags: french, scarves

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