‘Comment shoppez-vous?’

I was looking on the internet for something just now, when I found myself staring at this blog post that I wrote more than three years ago. And it suddenly made me homesick for a little bit of France. Not the friends, or the food, or the scenery or any of the finer things that France can offer. No, what I suddenly missed was the mangled version of English which is the stock-in-trade of every magazine and newspaper article there. I wonder what the must-have words of 2015 are?

From Pyrenees to Pennines

Stuck in a waiting room with a pile of magazines between me and my appointment time, my idea of hell is a choice between fashion mags and ones about cars.

Less so in France, at least as far as the fashion ones are concerned.  It’s not that I’m more interested in being stylish and chic here.  I simply have fun reading the articles and noting the ‘English’ words and phrases on almost every line.

Are you a sophisticated lady? Cool? Relax et sexy?  Show-off? Perhaps you aim for le twist sporty-glam, or like le mix et le match, le style ‘street’, or le fun et le trash.

Down at the shops are you looking for un look color block, le style boyish ou girly, arty-trendy, crazy doll, grungy girl?  If you’ve any sense, you’ll have made a…

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

8 thoughts on “‘Comment shoppez-vous?’”

  1. This made me smile and think how fun it is that languages are subtly or not so subtly continually evolving. Or is it a case of ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ – maybe, or maybe not, perhaps continual change is ‘le business’ as usual!

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  4. I subscribe to ‘Art et Deco’ and have the same thing. This month there is ‘Back to the Seventies!’ followed by ‘La fibre vegetal joke les prolongation’ (don’t get the link myself). And picnic/pique nique -which came first?

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