French - The Language of Love - Episode 41

ESL in Ho Chi Minh City

A petite story: They met when she was an au pair for an English nouveau riche family and he was a chauffeur for the next door cafe owner. They had to work their way through college although he was the son of a chargé d'affaires and she was the daughter of a bureau de change owner. It was coup de foudre. Both shared an interest in music genres such as ballet and opera. They were au fait with music themes and could go on and on about them without making any faux pas. They had a great passion for cuisine. They loved to have croissants or omelettes for breakfast. For entrees, it had to be always a sauted or a flambéd dish. And their favorite beverage was red wine. They had many romantic rendezvous that were beyond description. She dreamt of becoming a coiffeur and a couture designer and was on her way to make her first debut. He wanted to be a fashion connoisseur and manage the creme de la creme of the fashion houses. However she made friends with a few faux amis and they were jealous of her dream like relationship. They tried to sabotage her liaisons with him. Her laissez-passer was expired and she couldn’t have it renewed at that time so she had to return to Italy. They maintained their great rapport par avion. After a few months being away from her, he decided she was the one and his only raison d'être. He started to move in with her and flew back and forth between the two countries. Now she was a femme fatale working for a haute couture in Milan. He was an entrepreneur possessing many boutiques in London. In terms of appearance, she’s a brunette with a unique dressing style. She looked stunning all the time whether she wore her hair au naturel or not. He’s a homme du monde always wearing things a la mode. They were a chic matching couple. After five years de facto marriage, she agreed to become his fiancé. They even chose a venue for a soiree to announce their engagement. Then en route to a mansion, which he was going to buy as a wedding present for her, she had a car accident. Now go ahead and write the ending to this story using French-inspired English words from the vocbulary lesson and other French words not in the lesson. The following exercise may help you with that. Exercise One - Here are other familiar English words borrowed from French, let’s see if you know when and how to use them: attaché à la carte coup d'état hors d'oeuvre entourage c'est la vie avant-garde carte blanche cul-de-sac déjà vu double entendre fait accompli je ne sais quoi laissez-faire Mardi Gras nom de guerre protégé risqué RSVP touché voilà! tête-à-tête tout de suite par excellence matinee Which "word/ phrase" ... is eaten before the main course? is used at the end of an invitation card? is seen on a menu? describes a holiday celebration? can describe art or new ideas? means a dead-end street? is used to advise people to accept a bad situation? is a movie shown during the day? can be a type of briefcase? can be a group of friends? do governments guard against? is a name you earn in battle? is one that you can’t quite put your finger on? is one of the best? wouldn’t you use in front of your granny? means “finished?” is an art of word play? gives you creative freedom? needs to get done immediately? wants to be left alone? wants to be instructed and guided? is shared between friends? is shared between opponents? is that gut feeling you just experienced? is the only one left from our French word list?