R.I.P. Miles Kington, King of ‘Franglais’

Great post keep them coming

http://www.JohnDennerRocks.com

I had no idea that Franglais/Frenglish could be traced so clearly to a particular person. I have vivid memories of a sixth-grade teacher telling us that “Franglais, c’est une insulte aux deux langues.” (Frenglish is an insult to both languages.)

Hi Jim:

If “Franglais” is spoken by native English speakers attempting “le mot juste,” then we need a good term for Frogs tackling Britspeak. My vote is for “Englench.”

I think the most famous practitioner of Englench would be the chain-smoking pop singer Serge Gainsbourg, whose raspy and witty “Bonnie and Clyde” was mostly in French. Peter Sellers’ respectably zany “Inspector Clouseaux” also was a safe bet for mangling the language: “Do you have a hrooom?”

Anyway, the French sense of humor is different from ours. The French regard Jerry Lewis as a genius—yeah, he was good in “The Nutty Professor,” but come on. A typical example of a French joke, which I gleaned while living abroad there for a couple years, is the fact that “etrangers” sometimes mispronounce “beacoup.” Instead they say “beaucuille” (sp?), which apparently means “nice ass.” I guess that would be amusing to a kindergartener, but to a sophisticated highbrow crew of American and British humor writers the reaction would be tantamount to a polite suggestion that their cousins across the Channel stick to cooking and exporting plonk.

However, in southern France, I knew a British expat who told me that once at the beach he ordered a “matelot” instead of a “matela”; in other words, he ordered a sailor instead of a floating mat. This is not exactly as funny as the French film “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday,” but worthy at least of a dry chuckle and poignant tear.

RIP Miles Kington.
When I studied french, I found myself speakig “Franglais"ing…I’m guessing we all did , at some point.

Fraglias’ing is the only way to do it for the average american
Whatever works for you I suppose!