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Monday, October 5, 2015

French words of the day: broderie anglaise

Many technical terms are French, not only in cooking. Café everybody knows. Café Royale is royal cafe. Vis à vis, one might say, face to face. Visage is face.

In the house we have French windows. Years ago I was told that the French think what we call French windows are English windows, but I cannot find any confirmation of this on the internet. When you think about it, they are not windows but doors. Sometimes called French doors, or casement windows.
porte-fenêtre the hat on the e indicates the lost letter s, as in nest

Indoors we sit dressmaking. In dressmaking we come across moire silk and broderie anglaise.
Broderie anglaise - English embroidery, yet we in England use the French words as if we consider it is something French. The style of embroidery is cutwork or holes, often a series of small holes in a repeated pattern with scalloped or curved, each hole edged with close parallel lines stitching.

A great friendship and travel for business and pleasure between two nearby countries, England and France, or the USA and Canada.

Angela Lansbury, English and French tutor, speaker, author.

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