Le Dictionnaire Oxford

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27498, 4 November 1954, Page 11

Le Dictionnaire Oxford

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, Nov. 2. A Paris newspaper which conducted a competition in which readers were asked, to find substitutes in a given paragraph for English terms such as “cover girl,” ‘pin up,” “new low,” and “public relations” received in renly from an American a contribution using 24 French words accepted in English because there is no true equivalent. The contribution read: “The Charge d’Affaires ate his pie a la mode, his filet mignon (both cooked by his chef) and drank a demitasse. Then he took his attache case and full of esprit de corps he was en route for Prairie du Chien (Michigan) to prepare a coup d’etat. “When the coup was a fait accompli, mostly due to his aide de camp’s magnificent liaison work, he went to Portage La Prairie (Wisconsin) to visit his fiancee, who was an old rouee always telling risque stories, but nevertheless liable to make some faux pas sometimes.

“On the way he bought her a negligee, a brassiere, and a corsage. The negligee was somewhat ooh la la, but he was glad of it when he sat vis-a-vis her later in the evening. Of what happened during the night we have no communique.”