Welcome to the A to Z Challenge!
Two words today for the letter F
- one is English but doesn’t have the same meaning whether it’s used in the USA or in France
- one sounds like English but isn’t a real English word
FOOT
In France Foot means football, for soccer. American Football doesn’t exist in France. Used in France, Foot is never a body part.
Embed from Getty Images
Foot ne veut jamais rien dire d’autre que Pied aux USA. L’abréviation du mot football (American) n’existe pas aux USA. L’équivalent du football français se dit soccer aux USA.
FOOTING
Footing looks like English, sounds like English, but is not an English word. The French used it for running, before switching to jogging.
Footing est une invention française qui s’est d’abord traduite par jogging aux USA. Mais jogging se dit moins aux USA. On court tout simplement.
I’m going for a run or I run: je fais mon footing ou mon jogging.
Do you know of another French or English word starting with the letter F that has a different meaning whether it’s used in France or the USA?
Connaissez-vous un autre mot français ou anglais commençant par la lettre F qui a un sens différent selon qu’il soit utilisé en France ou aux Etats Unis?
See you tomorrow for the letter G!
Evelyne Holingue 
I love all the photos which go with your words, Evelyne, they bring the subject alive.
Thank you, Gulara. Visuals are such a part of our lives, now, that I try to add a photo as much as I can. See you on your blog.
Wow this is informative …
Good to know foot means ‘football’ in France …
Adore football players 🙂
@dixita011 from
Cafenined words
Glad you learned a little something when you stopped by. Hope to continue to be helpful until the last day of April. Thank you, in any case, for this visit.
Now you’ve got me wondering how we came to call a game that has very little interaction between feet and the ball – football. We don’t even measure the distance in feet.
You’re asking me? I think I already wrote in another blog post that I went once to a football game when my daughter was a student at UC Berkeley. I loved the crowd and since it was on a gorgeous day, it was real nice to be outside. Other than that? I have a hard time to get involved. It’s true that I favor the French foot (socer). I think there’s more quick action and the rules (at least to me) seem pretty clear and simple.
But you’re right: more arms and heads than feet in the American football.
Thank you for your support on my little challenge.
You’re welcome. Thanks for making it interesting.
These posts are interesting. For once I have a suggestion for another word. Face/ visage. I struggle with the differences between US and UK English here. @suesconsideredt from Sue’s Trifles
and Sue’s words and pictures
Thank you, Sue, for stopping by and adding to the conversation. You make an interesting point with Face and Visage, both French words as well.
Technically they are synonyms. However one or another will be used, depending of the context. Visage is almost always what the French will use for a person’s face, while Americans will do the other way. The French will favor Face to speak of the appearance of a place and it seems to me that Americans will choose Visage in the case.
I don’t know for the British, however! Hope to see you again.
One thing I’ve learned since living in Europe as an American ExPat is that the English Language is filled with French, Spanish, and Italian words. It’s amazing.
Very nice post.
Visiting from the A to Z Blog Challenge.
Shalom,
Patricia @ EverythingMustChange
Thank you, Pat. You’re right and it makes perfect sense since people coming from so many places inhabit the USA. What surprises me now is to see the amount of American English words and expressions used in the French newpapers and magazines, in business and personal lives. Hope to see you again this month.
So the French “footing” is like the American (English?) “hoofing.”
When “hoofing” means go on foot, right?
Je commente ici, mais je les ai tous lus, je vais relayer sur FB, tu veux bien ? en tous cas super idée et c’est du boulot ! 😉
Merci, Simone. Of course, tu peux relayer sur FB. Au contraire. Je vais aussi reconnaitre ton aide très bientôt quand je vais arriver aux lettres les plus difficiles.