troglodyte_mignon

I’ve seen estadounidense in a Spanish newspaper before, and for some reason this word is very hard for me to spell.

In French too, there’s “états-unien” (also spelled “étatsunien”). It’s little known and rarely used (in France). I have no idea if it’s more often used by left-leaning speakers. (I do use it from time to time, and I think it can be useful to avoid ambiguity.) I can imagine its use being more common and more political in Québec, compared to France where I live?

While writing this comment, I stumbled on a letter from a very angry listener who wrote to the French public radio “arbitrator” (don’t know if it’s the right word) to complain about a guest using the word “étatZunien” (his spelling) several times (gasp) on the air. Apparently, the listener believed the word to be made up, and he wasn’t the only one who wrote to complain about it.

And the arbitrator’s like “um, dude, it’s a real word, it’s in the dictionary since 1961”.

There’s no point linking to that here, really — the letter’s all written in very incoherent French — but it made me laugh.

frequentative

Thanks to your comment, I’ve learned about the -le prefix and unlocked a new word. I’m going to bed satisfied. :)

I’ve just watched the clip. Is it a parody of the Rawhide theme song or am I imagining it?

Keep in mind that

The EF English Proficiency Index has been the subject of criticism in literature. From the point of view of methodology, it suffers from self-selection bias. Instead of testing the level of English proficiency in the population, it tests the level of English of those who self-select.

(From the Wikipedia article.)

That is absolute nonsense.