L'Academie francaise, established in 1635 to defend the purity of the French language, has had enough of French people using the English word ‘discount’. And businesses are particularly guilty of this using English words or even whole phrases in adverts and posters as a way of grabbing attention. The Academie has earlier warned about the spread of “franglais”, a term it uses to describe the practice of replacing French words with English, either for effect, humour or because the speaker believes an English word can express the idea better. There is a whole category on its website dedicated to néologismes & anglicismes, new words and English words, which meticulously explains where a word originates from and what French words should be used instead. READ ALSO The 10 English words that will make you sound cool in France

Source: The Local December 11, 2019 13:52 UTC