Have you ever noticed

[Kimby]

... how many naughty words in the English language are French? Or should I say "risque"?

I noticed this phenomenon while doing my laundry today - brassiere, lingerie, and associated parts decolletage and derriere - and decided to explore it on here. Feel free to add to the list. Or jump in with lists for other languages that have infiltrated the English language.

brassiere
lingerie
decolletage
derriere
bustier
pegnoir
rendezvous
menage a trois


I'll add more later, but don't want to forget "french kiss", though it isn't technically in French. ;D

[patricklondon]

A lot of those are clothes, of course, so would have come from French because that's where fashion came from. Not to mention advanced ooh-la-la.

Musical terms come from Italian for similar historical reasons: allegro, piano, forte, etc., etc. (but they have also given us inamorata..!)

German gives us academic/philosophical terms: Zeitgeist, Weltanschauung. Though Schadenfreude doesn't quite fit into that category.

And Portuguese gave us marmalade.

[mich64]

Unfortunately Patrick, the only word listed there that I do now is "Schadenfreude". I watch too many movies.
Mich