Any linguists who can answer this?

[pegkerr]

One of the the attorneys in our firm asked if I could find out the answer on this, because the term came up in a deposition: what is the etymology of the term "french exit" (which means leaving without saying goodbye). Can anyone give me some information on how this term originated? Thanks.

Comments

[rachet.livejournal.com]

http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50089767?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=French+Leave&first=1&max_to_show=10


Does this help at all?

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Valid license required to view.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

I don't know what that means.

Here it is cut and paste:
Originally, the custom (in the 18th c. prevalent in France and sometimes imitated in England) of going away from a reception, etc. without taking leave of the host or hostess. Hence, jocularly, to take French leave is to go away, or do anything, without permission or notice.

1771 SMOLLETT Humph. Cl. (1895) 238 He stole away an Irishman's bride, and took a French leave of me and his master. 1772 Town & Country Mag. 33 She..left Fanny with French leave. 1775 J. JEKYLL Corr. (1894) 28 [French etiquettes] are precise to a degree..I will allow that..taking French leave (which gains ground even among us at present) is easy and natural. But, on the contrary..there is more formality..in entering one assembly here [France] than in taking the round of routs for a whole winter in London. 1775 J. TRUSLER Chesterfield's Princ. Politeness (ed. 4) 72 As the taking what is called a French leave was introduced that on one person's leaving the company the rest might not be disturbed, looking at your watch does what that piece of politeness was designed to prevent. 1821 W. GIFFORD in Smiles J. Murray (1891) II. xxi. 55 The few teeth I have seem taking their leaveI wish they would take a French one. 1866 MRS. H. WOOD St. Martin's Eve xiii, Her roving son had taken French leave to go back to London.

[pattinthehatt.livejournal.com]

That means you can access it because the university pays a fee to allow anyone affiliated with the university to use it. If you tried to access it from a non-campus terminal you would have to log in. Anyone who pays the fee, or is given access by an organization that pays the fee, can use the online dictionary, but otherwise, not.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

Huh. I feel kinda special now. :D

Nice to know OSU has paid for something like this. I've been taking advantage of it for years not knowing there was a fee that was paid.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Thank your campus library. =)

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

Uh weird. I could read it, and I'm unemployed and on my home comp....

[pattinthehatt.livejournal.com]

That is very odd! Can you access this as well? http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=large:sessionid=fsapp15-39093-fohcysm0-jgwq4v:entitypagenum=1:0

cause now my curiosity is really piqued!

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

yep. Should I not be able to?

(http://tinypic.com)

[pattinthehatt.livejournal.com]

Wow. I am as close as I ever come to speechless. I could probably be convinced that I disremembered about OED needing a subscription, but I'd be shocked if WorldCat doesn't or has changed. I wonder what's up with you being able to access. Other than it being a wild fluke I can only imagine that maybe your internet provider has a subscription. I say take full advantage! Party on with the research... or something like that!

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

And oddly, i tried again now, and it said my session had expired and I need to log in, so maybe it was just a first time user thing?

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

hee! I don't know where it comes from, and had never actually heard it before, but apparently the portugese have it too: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese_grammar/Crase

(and now that I look at the other comments--I've never heard it called 'french exit', but I have heard of french leave. And wikitionary has a nice translation bit at the end of the definition: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/take_French_leave , which includes the fact that the french call it "english leave." )

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I've never heard "French exit". I've read "French leave", in the military context of deserting or going AWOL.

[carbonel]

No one has cited Wikipedia yet, so I will:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_leave

Again, I've never heard of "French exit," just "French leave."

[schnoogle.livejournal.com]

Because only the French would be so rude? :D

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Well, there's this precedent where the English referred to VD as "The French Disease" and the French called it "The English Disease"...