Looks like somebody in the Globe op-ed department didn't do too well in French class
By adamg - 12/5/08 - 9:06 am
At least, based on the headline he or she put on a letter kvetching about how the Globe should stop saying the French language is kaput: Parley vous.
Comments
Maybe
Maybe they were just trying to be funny, using the colloquialism, like the old song.
Double
Straight or wry, I'm with Adam that this is a loser. As I recall, the parody version that ridiculed our ignorance of French was "parley voo" to make sure of the clumsiness. So, it's parlez-vous or parley voo, Glib/Glob/Globe.
It could simply be a play on the word "parley"
parley:
A discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of truce or other matters.
Mademoiselle From
The point of the column was that English has become the new "lingua Franca" - a cliche by now, but it's pretty hard to keep coming up with new column ideas.
Note: When Samuel G. Goodrich wanted a pseudonym for the narrator of his children's books in the early-mid 19th century, he chose the name Peter Parley - Peter the Talker. Goodrich was later the American Consul in Paris, and spoke French just fine.
Link:
Link: http://rememberjamaicaplain.blogspot.com/2008/10/samuel-goodrich-defended.html