From cliché & carteblanche to déjà vu & avant-garde: Why try to fashion separate lexicons?

English language aficionados have long railed about the plethora of French words in the lexicon, from cliché and carteblanche to déjà vu and avant-garde. They may be mollified to know that the French have been equally annoyed by the English words that have crept into their language. But the alternative lexicon from the French culture ministry, Federation of Feminine Prêt-à-Porter and Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion that attempts to exorcise words from across the Channel in that key segment, will prompt irritation and surprise among English votaries.

That the French have never bothered to think up words in their own tongue for such fashion basics as T-shirts and jeans, lazily making do with by prefacing the English word with a gender-defining ‘le’ or ‘la’, is certainly a faux pas that should have been remedied long ago. Whether Yves Saint Laurent’s famous ‘le smoking’ tuxedo suit would have been as smokin’ if it had been called le fumée tailleur is debatable, of course.

Terms such as ‘streetwear’, ‘pop-up store’ and ‘top model’ do roll easier off the tongue than ‘la mode de la rue’, ‘la boutique éphémère’ and ‘mannequins vedette’. But such terms are easily offset by the heavy French presence in English anyway. Both languages should be thankful India has not tried to indigenise fashion terms. Yet.