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/lit/ - Literature

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9354128 No.9354128 [Reply] [Original]

Why do some writers insert French words in the middle of English sentences? I noticed that George Saunders does this, and it makes me cringe so much.

>> No.9354138

To make this barbaric orc tongue at least somewhat less jarring.

>> No.9354197

i always wondered the same, giving it random explanations, until i learned the language and... well, it stopped seeming excessive or unnecessary just to fit perfectly in the english flow. but i think it remains a bit elitist cause, even if you are explained what it means, it isnt fully grasped unless you know the expression/word in its context.

i think it is a vestige from the time where french was the intellectual language of europe and every cultured man knew it.

>> No.9354889

>>9354128
Yeah man. Dumas does this a lot too, man. Fucking sang froid and shit, man.

>> No.9354908

Because not everyone is a monolingual mongoloid. Most writers in english know at least one romance language and enjoy adorning their prose with latin expressions

>> No.9354964
File: 197 KB, 786x501, 1491576098603.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9354964

>>9354128
Because French are the true masterace.

Back to your cuckshed.

Russians do it too, it is because of the Époque des lumières.

Everyone wanted to be a french in this time, so it became a trend to speak french to look more cultured.

If you want a good book on this :
Quand l'europe parlais français - Marc Fumaroli

>> No.9355003

>>9354128
To convey an idea better? Every bilingüal knows this

>> No.9355140
File: 57 KB, 600x704, Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9355140

>>9354128
Napoleon.

Same reason Latin spread through their empire and the same reason it's English now.

>> No.9355156
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9355156

Why do English speakers appropriate Latin words and use/pronounce them as if they were actually English words? It makes me cringe so much.

>> No.9355170

>>9354128

There's a certain je ne sais quoi to it, it shows raffinement.

>> No.9355501

>>9354964
Can i save this picture?

>> No.9355514
File: 38 KB, 403x610, 1491657189364.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9355514

>>9355501
I pillaged it from /his/, you can have it with pleasure anon.

>> No.9355538

Ask Dostoevsky

>> No.9355580

>>9354128
Because French is Latin for the masses.

>> No.9355618

>>9355156
"My name is ROME Boss-For-AHM-Us Hyrule."

Holy shit I raged so hard at this in Breath of the Wild. They couldn't be assed to get even the King's name right.

>> No.9355660

>>9354128
because our languages share like 40% of vocab anyways so why not

>> No.9355672

>>9354964
>Quand l'europe parlais français - Marc Fumaroli
for all the dumb americans in this thread, this is published in english by nyrb as When the World Spoke French

>> No.9355674

>>9354128
The same reason English speakers use the word schadenfreude.