108 The Penguin Guide to Plain English

Anglicization, in respect of French accents, is happening all the time,

if very slowly. Where ‘role’, which came in in the seventeenth century,

has lost its accent during the last few decades, ‘cliche’, which came in

last century, still keeps its accent. The word ‘cortege’ we sometimes see

nowadays w ithout its accent. Yet ‘tete-a-tete’ (a confidential conver­

sation, literally ‘head to head’), which came in during the seventeenth

century, keeps its accents. The word ‘cafe’, a nineteenth-century im porta­

tion, has preserved its accent and its pronunciation hitherto.

Haute Cuisine and Haute Couture

‘Cafe’ is just one among many French words from the world of eating

and drinking which have now established themselves in regular English

usage. We use the French terms ‘gourm et’, ‘gourmande’ and ‘bon viveur’,

for those who relish the delights of the table. No doubt the French

preeminence in the world of what we call ‘haute cuisine’ (‘high-class

cookery’) is responsible for this influence of the French language. At the

restaurant we study the ‘a la carte’ (‘according to the list’) menu, from

which we are free to select as we choose, and the ‘table d ’hote’ (literally

‘the host’s table’) menu which contains a series of courses planned by

the establishment at a quoted price. The first course may be called

the ‘hors d ’oeuvre’ (‘outside the work’) and is supposed to consist of

preparatory appetizers. If the word ‘starters’ seems now to be replacing

‘hors d ’oeuvre’, other French expressions at the table seem to hold their

own. There are dishes such as ‘pate de foie gras’ ( ‘pate of fat liver’), and

a beefsteak cut from between the ribs is called ‘entrecote’. Our sweet

dishes include a ‘souffle’. They also include a ‘sorbet’ and, accustomed

as we are to adapting our pronunciation to suit the French, we give the

word the French treatment, though in fact it comes from Turkish and is

really the same w ord as ‘sherbert’. There is a dessert called ‘creme

caramel’, and a liqueur called ‘creme de m enthe’ ( ‘cream of m int’).

We may add that the expression ‘creme de la creme’ ( ‘cream of the

cream’) takes us right out of the restaurant. It stands for the very best of

the best. Our inherited respect for the French as social superiors and

arbiters of taste applies beyond the dining-room. Just as we speak o f

‘haute cuisine’ so also we use the expression ‘haute couture’ for high-class

dressmaking, another sphere of French preeminence. We used to call

high society the ‘haut m onde’ (‘the high w orld’) and the world of fashion