Before the limousine was a stretchy black or white automobile stocked with champagne and a swanky set of recessed lights, it was a cloak worn by shepherds from the province of Limousin, France. Making regular pilgrimages to Paris in search of work, the shepherds were protected from the unfavourable elements they might encounter on their voyage by this cloak, or limousine. The limousine eventually became the name for the first car in which the chauffeur had a window and hood over his head, despite being detached from the carriage-like protection his passengers rode in.

Read about this and other surprising lexical mutations in “Say Chic!” by Françoise Blanchard and Jeremy Leven, a flavourfully composed glossary of the etymologies of French words frequently used to pepper Anglophone conversation. Regale your friends with a vaudeville of your linguistic panache, treating them to the punch of your repartee, testing their cunning with double entendre, and tripping them up with the occasional canard.

For those wise to the way of the French boudoir there’s lingerie, ménage à trois, and a sampling of all other things risqué. And for those naïve to the ways of the French toilette, there’s a detailed etymology of the ever-puzzling bidet!

Also by Blanchard and Leven, A Short Guide to Foodie French is a compendium of the French cuisine, complete with cheese dictionary and bakery breakdown. Discover the rather unpalatable linguistic relations of the crouton and get the juicy details on the flatulent and clumsy sister who brought us the pet-de-nonne.

Bonne lecture!

http://www.amazon.com/Say-Chic!