French words of the day for fun: provocateur, secateur

Provocateurs are people who provoke and secateurs are devices which cut (garden plants).

French words ending with e u r are pronounced err, rhyming with amateur. You might think this is obvious, but I've heard speakers in Singapore pronounce the words which end in e u r like manure, or demure. the first letter, the e, is the one which drives the pronunciation. Amateur.

agent provocateur - agent working to provoke reaction by a political enemy
amateur - novice, somebody who does something as a hobby, not as paid work. (Important in competitions where you must maintain amateur status by not taking paid work.)
chauffeur - professional driver (also used humorously, eg "I chauffeur the children to school and ballet lessons.")
provocateur - person who provokes, or sets out to provoke, to get a reaction
raconteur -a  speaker telling or recounting long, amusing stories
secateur - heavy scissors for cutting garden plants, usually with a safety catch and heavy curved blades

c o i f f e u r - smart hairdresser
c o n n o i s s e u r - expert, usually one who seeks out the luxurious or best foods, antiques or goods.

Let's make up a sentence using several to practise the pronunciation.
The agent provocateur set out with the secateurs and instructed the chauffeur to driver to the coiffeur. Fortunately he was an amateur.

Angela Lansbury B A Hons, CL, ATG, English and French teacher, tutor, speech coach.

French word of the day: carillon

The letter C seems to be the most common in my ongoing list of French words used in English. About a fifth of the words start with the letter c.

To give just a few examples:
café, chateau, contretemps, carillon, cachet, contre jour

Today's word is carillon. After I looked up carillon for my research on my post on musical buildings I realised it was also a word to add to my list of French words.

A carillon is a group of bells playing a tune. Very interesting that you start with the lowest sound and rise up the scale to the highest as a warning of fire or other alert such as wartime emergency. The carillon was not an amusement for tourists but practical, the forerunner of the modern siren.

From the article on carillon I noticed another word, carillonneur, which you would not often need, unless you were one, or needed one. But if you are a conoisseur, you will be pleased to learn a new word.

A carillon nowadays often plays a tune, especially to mark special occasions such as a national day, festival or royal wedding or celebration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillon

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher and author, English and French teacher and tutor.
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French words of the day for connoisseurs: amateur, bain-marie to repertoire - and making mayonnaise

amateur
bain-marie - Mary's basin or bath, bowl or pan suspended in hot water, for steaming, lie poached eggs but usually bigger for delicate sauces like melting chocolate, or hollandaise - an egg rich sauce
chauffeur
cjef
connoisseur
croissant
cuisine
debut
entrepreneur
mayonnaise - egg yolks(s) (usually two egg yolks) whipped up with oil, traditionally olive oil
separate the yolk from the egg, dribble in oil with drops slowly or it doesn't emulsify but ends up runny - you must get air in as fast as the oil. When it starts to mix well you can add slightly faster. Add lemon juice to add flavour - maybe this helps the emulsion?
milieu
repertoire

In the right milieu your chauffeur will drive you to a restaurant patronised by millionaires where as an amateur you can enjoy your debut as a from a chef in his milieu you learn from a connoisseur how to make croissants and use a bain-marie to make mayonnaise.