voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir

[Schrödinger's Toad]

Ou est le poubelle sil vous plait?

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

We speak a language comprising elements of the languages of the people that have turfed up here over the years; the most significant elements are from Old English (which used to be called Anglo-Saxon) and Norman French, although Scandinavians have contributed a bit, too. All languages assimilate elements of other languages they come into contact with to a greater or lesser extent, most notably with loan-words ("le weekend", for example, or ""typhoon").

What happened here was that after the Conquest the two major languages - those of the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans - merged over the centuries, despite their very different origins (one Germanic, and the other Romance, ie derived in the main from Latin); consequently we have a lot of words French people recognise, but others - and concepts of grammar - which are very alien to them. Must confuse the f*** out of them.

You can see a "ghost" of the development of English in the words for domestic animals (cows, sheep, pigs, etc) which come from an Old English source, and the words for their meat (beef, mutton, pork, etc) which come from a Norman French source - reflecting social divisions, I guess (the beaten Anglo-Saxons kept the animals, the victorious Normans ate them).

French was the language of the court for a long time, I believe, along with Latin as the "official" language of documentation and the church; however, that began to change in the early Middle Ages, and English (at that time Middle English, I think - it went from Old to Middle to Modern) became more and more used by the ruling classes (who were more often than not French or thereabouts by birth and culture but with lands in England as well as on the Continent) and not just the peasantry - presumably they learnt the local lingo in order to shout at the English toiling in their fields. By the time Chaucer started to write prose and poetry in English, the assimilation process was well underway - his language is a right mixture of the two.

All the best words in Modern English are, however, of Old English provenance, e.g. "f***" and "shit", etc...

Just read this to myself, and realised what a smartarse I am. I'll get my coat...

Also, the French invasion of Normandy in 1302 by Phillipe/Paul (someone beginning with a 'P') II resulted in the alienation of the French ruling classes from their linguistic & cultural roots; plus French never penetrated the lower/working classes to a sufficient extent to displace English as the mother tongue of the nation, allowing it to survive, then fight back. Thus, in this case, number, rather than prestige, of speakers, won through, resulting in the triumph of the English language, albeit in an aforemnetioned, much-changed, variety ...

Even so, can you write my Imposition of Standard English essay?

 

[Deano's Right Foot]

croatie fessera vos popotins

 

[eastlondonseagull]

"Where is the bin?" Repugnant? I like a lot. Will come in handy when we stuff Les Francais in the final!

 

[Titanic]

Deano - I think you've made a verb out of a noun there!! But I guess we know what you are saying

BAG - sounds a bit desperate to me!!

Venez essayer si vous pensez que vous êtes assez dur !

 

[Storer68]

Construire un feu de joie.
Construit un feu de joie.
Mettre Bellotti sur le sommet.
Mettre Bill 'Archer milieu.
Et nous brûlerons l'espèce de lot

 

[On the Left Wing]

Construire un feu de joie.
Construit un feu de joie.
Mettre Bellotti sur le sommet.
Mettre Bill 'Archer milieu.
Et nous brûlerons l'espèce de lot

give me some hay and wood and I'll start building it

 

[Lord Bracknell]

"Where is the bin?"

Should't this be "Where's the bin"?

Or, to translate back from the Yorkshire into the French:-

où étiez-vous?

 

[Titanic]

Qui êtes-vous ? Qui êtes-vous ?

 

[Storer68]

This thread has to gold surely..............................

 

[Storer68]

One for Andy King, and Steve McMahon,

S'assied !
Fermer en haut !

 

[Simster]

Who's up for doing all this again in German, Italian and Romany after the Swiss game?

 

[Titanic]

Rentrer chez vous, vous pourriez aussi bien rentrer chez vous!

 

[On the Left Wing]

Who's up for doing all this again in German, Italian and Romany after the Swiss game?

Petit poisson deviendra grand !!!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Who's up for doing all this again in German, Italian and Romany after the Swiss game?

Sie können Ihre Kuckucksuhren herauf Ihren Arsch haften

Potete attaccare i vostri orologi di cuculo sul vostro arse

Vous pouvez coller vos horloges de coucou vers le haut de votre cul



(Regrettably I haven't been able to find the Romansch translation of "you can stick your cuckoo clocks up your arse")

 

[zefarelly]

last weekend at Le 24 Heures Du Mans I was mostly ordering

six pression et un bouteille de cidre sil vous plait

sacre Bleu seemed to be the most commonly used phrase along with the occaisional useage of bonet de douche and 'faav beeeyers pleez' by some of our more linguistically inept members

 

[On the Left Wing]

For a musical interlude:

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/26/

 

[zefarelly]

For a musical interlude:

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/26/

thats tres silly !

watching the football on Sunday in LeMans a French guy gave us an exact translation I was looking for. . . .they all think the same as us in that

Fabien Barthex est un Clune

 

[Titanic]

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/26/

FANTASTIQUE!!!

 

[lost in london]

il n'y a personne la, il n'y a personne la......

and the strikingly obvious

Mouettes!
Mouettes!


L'armee bleu et blanc de mark mcghee - not very catchy,

how about:

allez les bleus (et blancs)
allez les bleus (et blancs)


Sourire Barry Fry, comment difficile peut-il etre? D'etre un espece de gros connard de l'est de londre avec une equipe de merde?


For the purists, apologies for lack of accents, can't be arsed to work out how to do them, and for the mistakes, no dictionary.