Avant la Lettre and Après la Lettre
Pardon My French
Extra Muros continues the serialization of Pardon My French, a light-hearted look at some of the French expressions that have taken up residence in the Anglosphere.
In the days before desktop publishing, French printers used the term avant la lettre (“before the letter”) and après la lettre (“after the letter”) to describe the relationship between an engraving and its caption.
Before long, the first expression migrated into English, where it took on the meaning of “before there was a name for it.” Thus, we got phrases like “Jules Verne wrote science fiction avant la lettre” and “fish and chips was ‘fast food’ avant la lettre.”
Après la lettre, however, remained at home. Thus, however apt the equation may be, we cannot say “Mrs. Clinton is Lady Macbeth après la lettre.”
The links appended to the featured phrases will take you to Google Translate, where you will find an icon similar to the one used with many volume controls. When you click that button, an authentic French robot will pronounce the word or phrase in question.
For other articles in this series:
To Share, Subscribe, or Support:
The pictures are 3-D. Cross your eyes.
That MacBeth lady was really nasty to all her husband's interns.