Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 3246-3250 (20-24th June 2016)

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oddtail:
FWIW, the Wikipedia page states that the word entrée originally meant the ceremonial "entrance" of dishes to the dining hall and came to denote a heavy meat course. It stays close to this early meaning in USA and parts of Canada, denoting the main dish; in modern times, it means "introductory dish" in France and the rest of the English-speaking world.

Tova:

--- Quote from: Penquin47 on 23 Jun 2016, 00:31 ---In English, entrée means "main course".  In French, entrée means "starter".  How this happened, probably the same way "pants" came to mean two very different items in American English and British English.  The French makes more sense: the course by which you enter the meal.

--- End quote ---

Change your first mention of "English" to "American English". Otherwise yes.

In Australia, and also England I think, the meaning of the word agrees with the French.

Is this linguistic oddity* confined to American English? I suspect so.

Edit: Apparently also in parts of Canada.

* Yes, I like that phrase. :)

blt:
Is "raison d'être" not a common English borrowed phrase in other parts of the world?  I hear and read it more often in English than I do in French here, usually by managers or reporters trying to be fancy.

Tova:
Yes, it is a fairly common phrase, like a certain je ne sais pas and savoir faire.

It is "je ne sais quoi", but I am leaving it as a warning against the dangers of careless posting.

oddtail:

--- Quote from: Tova on 23 Jun 2016, 01:59 ---Yes, it is a fairly common phrase, like a certain je ne sais pas and savoir faire.

--- End quote ---

I thought it was, as a borrowed phrase in English, "a certain je ne sais quoi"?

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