Word /Britannique

Word /Britannique
Message de misterp posté le 24-07-2013 à 12:30:25 (S | E | F)
Hello,

last Sunday, on the Tour de France arrival, I saw an English group laugh after the speaker said "... le britannique ...". A young woman repeated " le britannique ! ", looking at a friend, and they all laughed ! does anybody know why ?
the accent ?
something else ?
I am curious :-)

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Modifié par misterp le 24-07-2013 12:30

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Modifié par lucile83 le 24-07-2013 14:51

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Réponse: Word /Britannique de hortensia, postée le 24-07-2013 à 14:11:25 (S | E)
Hello misterp!
I don't think there is anything funny in the word "le britannique", but I can only assume that this group of friends were English, and this cyclist was English too. That's why they probably expected the presenter to say : "l'Anglais" rather than "le Britannique". Imagine you are in the U.S., for example, and the presenter says "l'Européen" to name a French sportsman. If you are with a group of French friends, you will probably laugh too, as you would expect the man to say : "le Français", and NOT "l'Européen".
This is only my assumption, of course! I hope it helped you ! Have a nice day!

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Réponse: Word /Britannique de misterp, postée le 24-07-2013 à 15:37:02 (S | E)
Oh, I see. Of course ! I measure and confess my enormous ignorance. I am confused.
I try to progress day after day
Thanks a lot
For the Dummies like me, everything is detailed here :
Lien internet


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Modifié par misterp le 24-07-2013 15

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Réponse: Word /Britannique de kadzona, postée le 25-07-2013 à 10:37:09 (S | E)

Good morning, misterp. The issue of the winner of the Tour being "British" is sometimes a moot point. Chris Froome was born in Kenya – raised and educated in South Africa – lives in Monte Carlo - has ridden as a professional cyclist under a British licence since 2008. He has always held a British passport. His father is English and his mother's parents emigrated from the UK to Kenya. Referring to him as "le britannique" is perhaps an attempt at irony – or merely linguistic exactitude.

Also: we are careful, in Britain, not to claim as "anglais" anyone who is Scottish, Irish or Welsh. They are all British but retain their separate nationality. Since he holds a British passport, Chris Froome IS "britannique". As am I: de souche anglo-écossaise – but still British.

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Réponse: Word /Britannique de misterp, postée le 25-07-2013 à 11:23:55 (S | E)
Hello
OK. It was certainly not ironic. Actually, sports commentators, and often also journalists, are constantly using few different words, to relate things, people and events, but trying to avoid as much as possible repetitions in their speeches. In fact they always use the same range of words without really thinking! I believe it's as simple as that.
(I have a serious doubt on the structure of a sentence beyond, despite I have searched a lot ! Is there something wrong or not ?)

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Modifié par misterp le 25-07-2013 11:24

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Réponse: Word /Britannique de bluestar, postée le 25-07-2013 à 13:12:08 (S | E)
Friendly note to kadzona: In case our French friends get the wrong impression, the four million Irish living in the Republic are not British!

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