Franglais!

It all started then I used a French expression to an Australian bloke, in a pub in Sydney, recently. I suppose that as an English - European, for that is what I consider myself to be. I didn't see that as odd at the time. As an Englishman, I have traveled around Europe a bit and have had the pleasure of living in countries where English isn't the first language, and managed to survived I might add. I must confess though, that during my travels around the world I've picked up one or two colourful words and phrases in other languages, that I find myself sometimes, you know, throwing into a sentence now and then.

I made a quick apology, realising that he'd not understood, and so started my explanation of what we in England call Franglais.

I started my explanation by trying to explain how Rhyming Slang worked. I thought that this might be a less stressful way to introduce this chap to the concept of complete slang languages. I realised straight away that he'd also never heard of Rhyming Slang. Cockneys were also a challenge to this guy, but I'm always up for a challenge. I was acutely aware, even at this early stage in the conversation that my listener's lights were on, so to speak, but no one was home. We talked on for a long time and I was almost sure that he'd got the gist of it, Rhyming Slang that is, so I started to developed the theory that Franglais was merely the natural twenty-first century extension of Franco/British rhyming slang.

Of course I'm vary aware that there have been a number of occasions during the past few hundred years that our Sovereign Nations have not exactly seen eye to eye. That's England and France, of course, not England and Australia. Although, Let's face it, relations between Mother England and Australia have also been a bit,.....difficult at times. We English, as have also the French of course, reached a extreme plateau of disdain for each other that transcends any football match, V sign, method of brewing beer or sandwich. It would probably not be inaccurate to say that the English and French have had an intense disliked for each other from very soon after the first crossing of the English Channel.

Anyway, I have digressed from my story of this intellectual debate with this bloke, in a pub in Sydney, about Franglais.

To be continued.............

Barney