11:53 PM

To say a French word in the middle of an English sentence exactly as it would be said by a Frenchman in a French sentence is a feat demanding an acrobatic mouth; the muscles have to be suddenly adjusted to a performance of a different nature, & after it as suddenly recalled to the normal state; it is a feat that should not be attempted; the greater its success as a tour de force, the greater its failure as a step in the conversational progress; for your collocutor, aware that he could not have done it himself, has his attention distracted whether he admires or is humiliated.

— H. W. Fowler

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  1. I suggest all that proves is that Fowler couldn’t speak French fluently, and liked clever-clever remarks.. In 20-plus years in France, this combination came up daily, not to say hourly, and still very often does.

    As I only do it with people I know understand French, it is absolutely no “failure … in the conversational progress.”

    The Old Hack on