French- An English speakers secret language

Do you speak French?

No?

You may be surprised to find that you know more French words than you realize.

And no wonder, since English has such a strong French influence beginning in 1066 with the Norman Conquest. Nearly 30% of all English words have French origin. That puts the number at about 80,000 but does not include derivatives formed in English (i.e. joy and joyful, but not joyous and joyfulness). 

Here is a short list of English words whose French counterparts share similar spelling and have the same meaning. 

Silence                             Fax                                     Leopard

Superior                           Reservoir                             Panther

Inferior                            Place                                   Rat

Long                                Goblet                                 Elephant

Attention                         Serpent                                Education

Emotion                           Banana                                Cable 

Information                      Orange                                Lion

Table                               Camera                               Personell

Toilet                              Telephone                            Tiger

                                  

Ever wonder where the phrase ‘bottle neck’ came from in reference to a traffic jam? Well, embouteillage is French for 'traffic jam', bouteill meaning bottle.

The photo is of a displaced re-located chameleon (also means same in French). They are a common, yet HARD to find animal here in Cameroon. I am currently on the hunt for one myself.