Escargots are much more appealing than snails.

I like it. It's the popty-ping for me from now on. I'm going to go make some popcorn in the popty-ping.

My French is only what I learned in high school, but what I recall being taught (way back in the late 70s) is that although technically tu is acceptable when addressing someone younger and when speaking with close friends, in practice, vous is almost always used; tu tends to be reserved for, say, small children and pets. So it's like a 90-10 mix of vous and tu--or at least, it used to be.

This is in contrast to South American Spanish, in which there's more like a 50-50 mix of Usted and tu. Also, in SA Spanish, Usted is used in intimate relationships, as a sign of both love and respect, e.g., between spouses and between children and parents (even though the children are, obviously, younger than their parents).

Can't comment on the frequency or etiquette of use of "vosotros" in Spain or Argentina. People in Chile told me they had to learn vosotros in school in case they ever had to talk to someone from either of those countries--or, I suppose, to read Don Quixote.

Probably one needs to distinguish how language sounds to a foreign ear and meaning/usage of such language to a native speaker.

For the latter I think in terms of swear words no language will come close to Russian where whole language - Russian Mat was developed for this purpose and is used by the whole population regardless of ethnicity, age, gender or social status...

Another whole interesting subject is expressions which do not have equivalent in English. Like those

These are great! Thanks for sharing them.

Mazel tov, מזל טוב
is in fact, Hebrew.


Whether it's "I love you" or "je t'aime" it's all in who is saying it and how.

No French person says this.

"Un voyage d'affaires" is a business trip. Business class is "class affaires."



I don't know about Montreal, but in Paris you are better off with "enculer" to make that point.

Better off using "se branler" if you're being insulting.

Were you ever at the Alliance on East 60th Street in Manhattan?

One of my classmates in the Intensive series was getting ready to study at INSEAD, another for a company transfer. Do I need to go on?

They say that "tu" is becoming more popular in France because of the influence of Twitter, texting, etc.

"Nosh" is more descriptive (IMHO) than snack. In fact,my dear friend Marco Musco of Hotel Ai Mori D'Oriente in VCE referred to a newly opened deli as a "nosheria."

For those in this thread who love language (and it seems most if not all do), I would recommend reading The Loom of Language, a book that unravels many of the mysteries of the development and history of language.

I recently bought a copy for a friend (I wouldn't give my copy up) at Alibris, which has used hard-cover copies in good condition available starting at $4.70.

As my contribution to this thread (beyond the reading assignment), I would only like to point out that I was tested on the spelling of Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapit�n and other similarly short words by my father when I was in my third or fourth year of school. I usually got them right but once in a while would miss something like one of the f's where there are 3.

The words are Hebrew, but according to Wikipedia, the phrase itself (at least in current usage) is of Yiddish origin, from whence it was incorporated into Modern Hebrew. The pronunciation also differentiates it: "MA-zel TOV" is Yiddish, while "ma-ZAL TOV" is Hebrew.

Sadly, as a practitioner of the language, I must admit (opine?) that very few things actually sound better in Hebrew than in pretty much any other language, with Dutch being a possible exception. (Languages with gutterals and glottal stops generally are not that pretty.)

For me... anything said with a male American accent.

Will someone call me! (wink!)

Here is what it says in Wikipedia:

While the words mazal (or mazel in Yiddish; "luck" or "fortune") and tov ("good") are Hebrew in origin, the phrase is of Yiddish origin, and was later incorporated into Modern Hebrew.

You will note that there is no source for this proposition, not even a link to a blog, which means that someone pulled it out of thin air.

Another example of the "value" of Wikipedia.

Yes, I've taken several classes at FIAF. All the guys in the classes - except for perhaps two older married men whose kids were out of the house and were looking to travel to/retire in France with their wives - were gay.

This was at the highest, expert (C1/C2) level, so things could be somewhat different at the lower levels. But certainly at the top of the pyramid there are very, very few hetero male students. And that's a pattern I've seen pretty much everywhere I've taken a French class in the US.

The first class I took was Intensive French, all eight semesters of seven weeks each, five hours a week. And those 56 weeks were just the first of several programs I took. My experience is completely different from yours.

what sounds better is one thing, there's also what sounds worst

for butterfly

papillon - French
mariposa - Spanish
farfalla - Italian
schmetterling - German

Brazilian Portuguese, maybe, but not European Portuguese. THAT sounds like Spanish with a Russian accent (at least that was my impression the first time I heard it).