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I was standing in line at the bakery here in the Dordogne last week—yes, another tale from the land of crisp baguettes and existential shrugging—when an English couple ahead of me asked, in oddly precise tones, for "deux croissants et un pain au chocolat, s’il vous plaît". The woman turned to her partner with a triumphant smile, clearly proud of her linguistic victory. Then, after paying, she muttered just loud...

Sensational headlines about the rising toxic tide of Americanisms inundating our defenceless language produce predictable, periodic...

The first language I gave up on was my mother tongue, or rather my mother’s tongue: German. I’m 4 years old riding in the back of a...

The article by my fellow contributor, Lynda Goetz, in last month’s Only Connect, entitled "We MUST reduce immigration...

Deep breath. I’m about to offend what few friends I have left. I have recently made a new entry into my list of conversational pet hates...