What new words have you learned recently?

[Fyraltari]

Please - we changed lots of things, probably because we had no idea of the correct pronunciations!

Also, what we had forced on us was Norman French not French - I think there was quite a difference.

Ah, yes, for example, I hear you guys still spell "connaisseur" with two "o"s. Such an insurmontable gap.*

Joking aside, if you want to split hairs, it was Anglo-Norman you guys got, which is mainly derived from Norman but also from other Oïl languages as not all of William's army was from Normandy. Most Oïl languages being close enough to be mutually understandable, this wasn't much of an issue. Norman kept on going its merry way and merge with the other Oïl languages to form middle French.

It might be a cliché to admit that I'm having déjà vu vis-à-vis my rather risqué faux pas over having a laissez-faire attitude towards the difference between French and Norman, but I believe I am still en route to a valid point.

Funnily, the Norman-descended English words are generally not those you'd expect: "war", "to catch", "budget" and many more have Oïl roots.


*I was flabbergasted when I learned this was the original spelling and not some sort of typo. I should have guessed, really since writing "ai" sounds "oi" is the French equivalent of "Ye Olde Englishe".