Submitted by Sir Joshua, Jan 24, 2007 09:08

For all the loathing the French may have of the English, it was directly across the Channel that they fled when Revolutionary fires got too hot. The cultural fascination which the French had/have for the English is another bump on their road of Frankish superiority. From dining tables and dining rooms, - the French had only previously eaten at kitchen tables or on planks set on wooden horses in the parlor (salon) until the English lit their fire for a dedicated room for dining. Delacroix brought back yellow chamois driving gloves inspired by Beau Brummel after his three summer months (1825) in England then everyone in France who fancied themselves middle class was wearing them. (The Napoleonic wars had drafted the English servant class and coach drivers were no more. Consequently Englishmen had to drive their own phaetons.) Interestingly enough, all the upper-class words in English come from the French who ruled England after the Norman invasion. The Anglo-Saxon cow is in the field, but becomes beef (boeuf) on the table. Where would they be without one another?

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