I just learned something. I had always thought that "lingua franca" had
originally meant "French" from the time when French was the sophisticated
language for educated people to learn.
But the oed says:
b. lingua franca [It., = Frankish tongue] a mixed language or jargon used in the Levant, consisting largely of Italian words deprived of their inflexions. Also transf. any mixed jargon formed as a medium of intercourse between people speaking different languages.
This makes my favorite quote (from a co-worker) must less cool:
"The French are just pissed because English is the new lingua franca."
> erik at debill.org wrote:
>
> > I once had a hilarious conversation with a young man from France who
> > was desperately trying to find out what hotel my sister was staying in
> > on a visit to Paris. He'd somehow managed to track down her home
> > number in Texas. The catch was that neither of us spoke the other's
> > language and we had to use Spanish. It worked, but the whole
> > situation was pretty funny.
>
> Thinking back to Steve's "Ford" - The lingua franca used to be Latin. Now
> it's English.
>
>
>