Wednesday, October 28, 2015

French words of the day: crêpe, Crêpe-de-Chine and elite

Elite is from the French word e l i r e to elect. Those who speak and understand French are the elite. That means, high status, the best, the top, the small, elected the select number.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/elite

Crepe - rough thin cloth which when cut looks like a series of the letter A or  VVVVV. You can have crêpe cloth and crêpe paper.

The elite do not wear crêpe.
Crêpe-de-Chine - literally crêpe from China.
Wikipedia lists so many different types of crêpe from around the world that I shall simply refer you to their article.
Interestingly crêpe is associated with mourning and nun's veils.

Angela Lansbury, teacher and tutor of French and English.

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