这12个叫“French”的词真的是法国的吗？①

7月14日是法国的巴士底日，为了庆祝这个法国节日，让我们一起来盘点一下这些我们在英文中喊作“French”的东西，是不是真的有“法国血统”。

 1. FRENCH TOAST    

They don’t eat French toast in France. There, it’s called pain perdu ("lost bread," because it’s what you do with stale bread) or pain doré (golden bread). In the 17th century French toast was a term used for any kind of bread soaked and then griddled: In a 1660 citation, it refers to bread soaked in wine with sugar and orange and then cooked.

在法国人们不吃French toast。当地把它叫作pain perdu（“lost bread”，因为这是你处理不新鲜面包的方式）或者叫作pain doré （黄金面包）。在17世纪，French toast是所有浸透后煎制的面包的统称：在1660年的引文中，它指的是同糖和桔子一起在红酒里浸泡后烹制的面包。

 2. FRENCH VANILLA     

Vanilla is a bean from a tropical plant not grown in France, so what’s so French about French vanilla? French vanilla was originally not a term for a type of vanilla, but a type of vanilla ice cream, one made using a French technique with an eggy, custard base. It’s since detached from ice cream and become a flavor with a certain rich profile.

Vanilla是一种不长在法国的热带植物的豆子，那么French vanilla为什么又和French沾边呢？French vanilla起初并不是用来称呼某类香草的，而是一种香草冰淇淋，一种用法国工艺制作的蛋奶沙司。从冰淇淋中分离出来之后，它就成为了一种富有特色的香料。

 3. FRENCH DRESSING    

Originally the phrase French dressing referred to the type of dressing people might actually eat in France: oil, vinegar, herbs, maybe a little mustard. But somehow during the early 20th century it came to be the name for a pinkish-red, ketchup-added version that’s totally American.

起初French dressing这个词组指的是一种人们可能会在法国吃到的调味品：油、醋、香草，可能还有一点芥末。但是在20世纪初，它变成了一种粉色的、加了番茄酱的完全美国口味的调味品的名字了。

 4. FRENCH PRESS    

In France, the French press coffeemaker, a pot for steeping coffee grounds with a plunger for filtering them out, is called a cafetière à piston or just a bodum after the most common brand. It may have been invented in France, but the first patent for one was taken out by an Italian in 1929. The style of coffee became popular in France in the 1950s, and was later referred to by American journalists as "French-press style coffee.”

在法国，the French press coffeemaker，是一种用柱塞来过滤咖啡渣的壶，它被称为cafetière à piston或就是在最常见的品牌后加上bodum。它可能是在法国发明出来的，但第一份专利却是在1929年由意大利人申请的。这种风格的咖啡在20世纪50年代的法国流行起来，后来被美国记者称为 "French-press style coffee”

 5. FRENCH KISS    

The term French kiss, for kissing with tongue, came into English during World War I when soldiers brought the phrase—and perhaps the kissing style—back from the war with them. French had long been used as a common adjective for various naughty, sexually explicit things like French letters (condoms), French postcards (naked pictures), and French pox (VD).

French kiss这个词，指舌吻，第一次世界大战的士兵们将这个词（或者是这种接吻方式）从战场带回，加进了英文。法国人长期以来一直常被用来形容各种调皮的、性感露骨的事物，比如French letters（套套），French postcards（赤果果的图片），还有French pox（性.病）。

 6. FRENCH HORN    

In French, a French horn is a cor d’harmonie or just cor, a name given to the looping, tubed hunting horns that were made in France in the 17th century. French became to the way to distinguish it from other horn types, like the German or Viennese horn, which had different types of tubes and valves.

在法语中，French horn是cor d’harmonie或就是cor，为一种17世纪法国制造的环形管状号子起的名字。法国圆号因有不同类型的管子和气阀，开始成为区分其他类型号子的方式，例如德国号角或维也纳号角。

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