Hey, I'm doing my possible! is another great example! I immediately hear it in french � Aye, j'fais mon possible ! � ;-)
You certainly have experienced a lot of other stories about the strangeness of both languages mixing themselves.
Le 07 juil. 2004, � 20:28, Christopher Smith a �crit :
Even more funny are the words that make it into the other language but with completely changed meanings. Like "stock" in (Canadian) French, used like "stuff" would be in English. "�te ton stock de(tte) l�" for "get your stuff outta there." Or "rendezvous" in English carrying distincty romantic implications, while in French it is any ordinary appointment.
And there are at least two words that I know of in French that are borrowed from English, yet have French origins to start with! "Rosbif" for "roast beef", where "beef" comes from the French "boeuf" for bull, is one example. And the American word "jazz", now current in French when applied to the music, apparently comes from (according to one source) the French word "jaser" for converse.
There may be a third, but I am not sure of its truth. The French town of Auges apparently sent its mild sausage to the World Fair, under the name "le haut d'Auges" meaning "the best of Auges." When it was imported to the United States, the story goes that the name was pronounced by the American buyers as "hot dog", thus the name stuck. When the name was translated back into French, it was called "chien chaud", literally a "hot dog". Other regions in the States got the Frankfurt sausage (the Frankfurter), the Vienna sausage (the Weiner), or the meat patty from Hamburg on a bun (the Hamburger.) This last one gets gales of laughter here in Qu�bec when correctly translated as "hambourgeois", as everyone calls it a hamburger, even in French.
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