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French leave

今天无意间看到French leave这个短语，就顺手翻了一下词典。牛津的解释：

take French leave (BrE) to leave work without asking permission first 擅离职守

这好像跟我印象里的意思不太一样，于是又在网上搜索了一下。

Merriam-Webster: an informal, hasty, or secret departure; Etymology: from an 18th century French custom of leaving a reception without taking leave of the host or hostess

The American Heritage: An informal, unannounced, or abrupt departure. From the 18th-century French custom of leaving without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.

MSN Encarta: unannounced departure: a quick departure or absence, without explanation or permission ( dated informal ) [a supposed French custom of leaving a party without saying goodbye]

这下应该差不多了。我自己的理解就是：French leave = 不辞而别，不一定只限于工作上的擅离职守。当然，牛津有它的地位，既然它这么解释，那在英式英语里，take French leave应该不适用于工作以外的不辞而别。比较一下：

British English:

A: Why did you take French leave yesterday? （昨天怎么没打招呼就离开办公室啊？）
B: Family emergency. （家里出了点紧急的事。）

American English:

A: I’m sure I saw you at the party last night, but you were nowhere to be found when I wanted to talk to you. Why did you take French leave? （我肯定昨晚在聚会上看到你的，但后来要找你说话的时候却不见人了。你怎么不辞而别啊？）
B: Sorry. I was trying to avoid someone who I didn’t know would show up. Don’t take it personally. （抱歉，我在躲一个没想到会出现的人。不是你的原因，别往心里去。）

另外，在查French leave的时候，又发现两个以前不知道的跟French有关的短语：

French letter （那法语的信件是什么东西？？？）
French paradox （为什么我没这种命？？？）

再想想French fries和French kissing，猜测法国人必定是享乐主义者。

Bonus video: Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland - Promiscuous

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 5:31 pm and is filed under Idiom, Everyday Life, British English. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “French leave”

Leïto Says:
June 1st, 2006 at 8:29 pm
很久没有更新了呢。尤其喜欢French paradox，哈哈……最近看英文的东西头大了，还是没有耐心。前面还有一堆考试，不知道该怎么办了，崩溃……

Yan:

比较忙，不好意思。

考试加油，Jack与你同在。
aliensooner Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:49 am
法语的信件是 courrier 吧，很多航空信封上印着的。

法国政府比较好玩，倡导法语文化，当初把 email 这个词从法语当中剔除出去，而使用 courrier electronique 或者 courriel, 也引起了不小的新闻轰动效应呢。

维基对 French letter 的解释非常有意思：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_letter#.22French_letter.22

至于 French fries，反法失去理智的一部分美国人曾经试图改称 freedom fries甚至 American fries，徒增笑料。

Yan:

呵呵，那只是我吸引别人去点击French letter的伎俩，没想到你还真回答啊。

“Freedom fries” is lame. End of story.
eco Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:50 am
觉得这个应该是抄西班牙语的，despedirse a la francesa是西班牙很普通的谚语，我一开始学西班牙语的时候就学过了，意思就是说不辞而别。比如说几个朋友一起在酒吧里，然后某某人走了，就没回来，也没跟大家说，西班牙人就称作despedirse a la francesa（法式告别）。主要原因是法国人常干这事，另外就是西班牙人讨厌法国人。
eco Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:57 am
再补充一下西班牙语里有关法国的词，除了法式告别，还有法式的吻，就是说用舌头的接吻。另外还有一个经典的，直接叫 un francés，其实完整的说法是un sexo francés，不过sexo这个词一般是不用的，而它的意思就是blow job。西班牙人不喜欢法国人，所以有关法国的词大多是这样的。

Yan:

French kissing到底是谁抄谁啊？

你说的那个“经典的词”我记下了，呵呵。
Carpe_Diem Says:
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:24 am
不知道大家看过没： http://oddrob.com/frenchjokes.asp

很多很好笑的French jokes~
fishee Says:
June 3rd, 2006 at 10:21 pm
咦，这个French leave的故事我原来也在哪里看到过。

好笑的是，法文里也有take English leave的说法，据说就是因为不服气英国人那么贬低他们…
Jason Says:
June 4th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
So many interesting French phrases.
leozjw Says:
June 6th, 2006 at 6:59 am
A: I’m sure I saw you at the party last night, but you were nowhere to be found when I wanted to talk to you. Why did you take French leave?
===============================================

French leave，這是單詞在21 Grams裏出現過的哦，具體應該是Naomi Watts和Sean Penn在motor hotel過夜之後，Naomi離開，然後Sean的畫外音，就說：She has gone，，，一大堆廢話，，，，然後說到She took French leave。
———————————————————————————-
上個禮拜剛看過第2x邊，應該沒記錯，卡卡。。。

Yan:

“She has gone，，，一大堆廢話，，，，然後說到She took French leave。” 這個真是經典。

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French leave

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