Foreign Words

Re “English Is in the Air for Carrier, but French Defenders Cry ‘Non,’ ” April 1: Jacques Myard (French member of Parliament) is right; French is the language of civilization, as he himself demonstrates by calling people like Bertrand de Courville of Air France jerks, elite jerks, that is.

Jerks in France have been borrowing words from our bourgeois American English long enough; it’s an abomination (one of the words they borrowed from us). Just look at all the goods they took out of our kitchen: croutons, croissants, dessert, sauce Hollandaise, souffles, mayonnaise and hors d’oeuvres. And they don’t even know how to properly pronounce these English words. “Dessert” is pronounced “desert,” with the emphasis on the wrong syllable! Adopting foreign words into one’s language is a faux pas. Joyeux Avril 1, Monsieur Myard!

PIETER J. VAN OVERBEEK

Ojai