French words of the day: blasé; Champs Élysées;

Reading an article about an exhibition in Paris, I immediately focus on French words which are familiar to speakers and readers of English.

French - English
alliance - alliance, joining an ally, partners in peace or business or a club
Alliance Francaises - club of French speakers in countries such as London, England and Singapore, usually a building housing a French restaurant or café, library or bookshop, meeting rooms
amour - love

blasé - nonchalant (there's another French word!), could not care less
nonchalant - non is no, c h a l e u r (oops - must separate the letters because spellcheck turned this word into cholera) is warmth, lack of warmth - could not care less, indifferent
capable (pronounced cap ah bull) - capable (pronounced cape -a-bull)
Champs Elysses - you recognise the name of the French street.
Champs - fields
avenue - wide street usually bordered by trees
boulevard - grand street
entente cordiale - cordial or friendly understanding (a political alliance)
exhibition (the t is pronounced like an s) - exhibition (t is pronounced like sh)
faux - false, as in faux pas, flash step or mistake
finesse - finesse, as in fine - ness or skill
metre - meter in English is measure
kilometre - thousand metres
restaurant - restaurant
restaurateur - restaurateur or restaurant owner or restaurant manager
suede - from the French gants de Suède, gloves from Sweden, soft matt kid leather
tableaux - pictures
voyeur - watcher, onlooker

I have read two sentences and already recognise six French words. You know more French, and use more French than most people realise. (realiser?)

It will soon be lunch time and I have to resist the temptation to drink a kir royale.  Royale is royal with an e on the end.

Angela Lansbury, author, tutor, speaker.

French words of the day: en primeur, fait accompli, faux pas, sommelier

In catalogues and newsletters for wine I find words used by sommeliers, the wine trade and wine buyers. On ebay and in clothes catalogues I find faux leather.

en primeur - I thought it was literally in first place - best wine (of season for that wine maker?) but I was muddling it up with premier cru which is described below. Wikipedia says this:
En primeur or "wine futures", is a method of purchasing wines early while a vintage is still in a barrel, offering the customer the opportunity to invest in a particular wine before it is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage. A possible advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the wines may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released on the market. However, that is not guaranteed and some wines may lose value over time. Wine experts, like Tom Stevenson, recommend buying en primeur for wines with very limited quantities and will most likely not be available when they are released.^[1] The wines most commonly offered en primeur are from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Port, although other regions are adopting the practic

faux - false or imitation, faux leather is not leather but looks like it is
faux pas - false step / mistake / embarrassing mistake
pâté - smooth paste, usually meat, in a glass or china pot sealed with fat or foil on top and a lid
The hat on the letter suggests a mission letter s following - paste or pasta, same origin
premier cru
sommelier - wine expert or head wine waiter in a restaurant