English Language FAQ

Patisserie is a typical example of a French 'loanword' There are several thousand French words French  in the English language. Their pronunciation can be tricky because in many cases there are no formal rules about the correct way to do this  By convention, pronunciation of French words  generally defers to the source. Ballet, for example, has a silent ‘t’, rather than a sounded one as in the Spanish equivalentl. Charles de Gaulle keeps his silent’s’ while Prince Charles becomes 'Charle' in spoken French. Anomalies There are many anomalies . Logic might suggest that a chaise lounge would be pronounced the same way as the lounge it is in.  Some common nouns have been completely anglicized like the hard ‘s’ in Paris . Unfortunately, for English language learners there is no absolute rule as to when this occurs.  The key is comprehension. The English pronunciation of the words Croissant and pan au chocolat approximate to the original French but neither requires an extra

The word Easter is not in the New Testament. Nor does it feature in most translations of the Bible into vernacular languages.  Isn't Easter  linked to Passover? There is no direct linguistic link in English  between the  words  Easter  and   Passover .  This contrasts with the convention in Romance languages. Pâques, in French, covers both  Easter  and Passover . In Spanish,  Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the most common phrase used to describe the festival. So where does the word  Easter come from?      Scholars agree that Easter  has pre-Christian roots. Beyond that there is little consensus. According to the great Anglo-Saxon scholar the  Venerable Bede , the Old English word eastre came from Eostre, "a goddess associated with spring."   April was called Eosturmonath  ("Easter-month") because in pagan times the month was dedicated to Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring.   The Canadian Oxford Dictionary suggests a link to the Germanic goddess

The first citation of maunde  to describe the Thursday before Easter in middle English comes in the mid-15C. It described not only The Last Supper in general but also the ceremony of the washing of the feet of the poor or downtrodden. The immediate origin was Old French mandé. This in turn derived from the Latin mandatum  or "commandment" (see mandate (n.)). For Christians the crucial reference is to the opening words of the Latin church service for this day, Mandatum novum do vobis "A new commandment I give unto you" (John xiii:34). This new commandment is to love one another.  The supreme test of this commandment will, of course, be the events of the following day: Good Friday . Short essay : Where does the word Easter come from? Passover? Good Friday?

There is  no definitive explanation as to how Oscar became the  popular name for an Academy Award.  

Wallace Hartley, leader of the band that played on Few events have captured the public imagination like the sinking of the Titanic on the night of the 14th April 1912. Five phrases associated with the disaster are still in common use.