[bobmoretti]

I think that this reputation is waaaay overblown, due to the mostly futile efforts of the Académie Française to preserve the "pure" French language.

As an American who spent a semester in a high school in France, I remember being shocked hearing our French teacher use "le timing et le planning" discussing our strategy for how to write an in-class essay. This was an ordinary French class for French speakers made up of upper-middle class 11th graders in a stuffy Catholic school.

English loan words (the term itself is valid in French!) are all over the place. "OK" is pervasive. Other examples include "stop", "week-end", "parking", . There are even strange examples where English words are used in ways that make no sense in English. "Footing" means "jogging". "String" means "thong". "Pull" (as in "pullover") means "sweater". "Chewing" means gum. "Baskets" means "sneakers". My favorite though, is "talkie-walkie" where the "l"s are both pronounced.

If you received a blank stare from the supermarket guy, he probably just did not understand what you were saying.

[anonu]

There is also the infamous "courriel" which overthrew the ubiquitous use of "email". http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2003/07/5967...

[jmnicolas]

No it didn't, everybody uses "email" and sometimes (rarely) they use "courriel" when they want to be a bit funny.