A man is a fiance. A woman is a fiancee.

[glitterata]

Just a little public service announcement from your junior high school English teacher.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I'll be damned. I never knew that. I thought they were both "fiancee".

Thanks Glitter.

 

[hoorray]

I guess you learn someting new everyday. You think I'd have known that as the daughter of a HS English teacher

.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

As long as we're on the subject of spelling, I've got to ask.

Do people spell it "maul jewelers" instead of "mall jewelers" as a play on words?

And it's "loupe", not "loop".

 

[glitterata]

I always assumed "maul jewelers" was a pun.

I was a perfect speller until I turned ten, when our upstairs neighbors' cat had kittens & my mother agreed to let my brother and me take home a pair. Subsequently, whenever I opened my spelling workbook, the kittens would settle down--one on each page--for a nice, long nap.

Took my spelling years to recover. I still make mistakes with words that end -ant and -ent. I guess that must have been the lesson the first week we got the cats.

However, my 7th grade French teacher, Madame Sanders, drilled me well in the difference between a fiance and a fiancee. I'm happy to have the chance to pass on her wisdom to you guys.

 

[Boulder]

Thanks I'd never heard of that difference either...
I like the "maul" jewelers pun!

 

[NewlyEngaged]

Potato or Potato (prounounced Potata).

Like the song.

I remember my sister calling her husband Fiance and referring to herself or her (now husband) referring to her as Fiancee.

I never liked the differences. Maybe I am just used to both man and woman being referred to as Fiance. PLUS... MS Word only corrects the spelling to Fiance with the little squiggly thingy (that's the technical term) over it. Doesn't give an option for Fiancee. So it's a Bill Gates version of the spelling/pronounciation.

I'm with you Richard... "Mall", not "Maul".

 

[Hest88]

"Maul" was coined, I believe, by Rodentman, and adopted by all.

(Thanks Glitterata.

)

 

[Rank Amateur]

If one can't put the accent marks in is one really spelling it correctly anyway?

R/A

p.s. I like the phrase "run of the mall jewelry". So much snootiness in so few words.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 8/12/2003 10

6

5 PM Rank Amateur wrote:

If one can't put the accent marks in is one really spelling it correctly anyway?

R/A


----------------

Good point R/A.

I've always used Fiance Fiancee M/F. It's not a big deal to me though. Actually, I think I had a freudian slip once & called my (now hubby) my finance.

Another point. This is a pet peeve of mine. One is to wish the Fiance "Congrats". The Fiancee receives "Best Wishes". But, maybe I'm just old school.

BTW, I think manners should make someone comfortable - not uncomfortable. So, at the end of the day, good manners is one that relays a postitive note. So, Congrats to all!

 

[BTO]

I actually like the distinction between Fiance/Fiancee. It also can help distinguishing a poster as male or female when the screen-name is ambiguous.

Hmmm...My MS Word gives me the correct spelling/accent for "Fiancee" and changes it to "Fiancée"...so does my email...

And I like Maul, I think its punny. hee hee.

Brandy

 

[glitterata]

Ah, sorry, I would have posted the words with their proper accents if I'd known how.

The two words are pronounced the same way, by the way--fee-AHN-say. (Fee-ahn-SAY is okay, too.)

 

[BTO]

Hi Glittera,

I understood without the accents, I was just referencing that fiancee is recognized by my MS, that's all.

I'm glad you started this thread. There have been a few times I've wondered if the poster was a man or woman, and maybe the extra little "e" would have helped.

 

[hoorray]

So isn't trying to figure out if the poster is male or female part of the challenge/fun of this forum?

 

[Hest88]

I just find it too difficult to type the accents, so I think remembering the extra "e" is a decent compromise.

 

[Heyjud]

Thanks Glitter!!

That's something that I never knew
As a matter of fact, I had no clue!

When my spellings wrong, I shift the blame
"Poetic license" is what I claim!!

 

[trichrome]

I wonder why americans are using french words when
your keyboards cant display the '

Fiancé is the man.
Fiancée is the woman.

Et SVP, il serait important de bien respecter l'orthographe
sinon les gens de l'Académie Française ne seront pas
heureux.

Merci.

Trichrome.

 

[dancingmelimel]

----------------
On 8/13/2003 12:56:37 PM trichrome wrote:

Fiancé is the man.
Fiancée is the woman.

Et SVP, il serait important de bien respecter l'orthographe
sinon les gens de l'Académie Française ne seront pas
heureux.

Merci.

Trichrome.
----------------

Tres bien, Trichrome!

Naturellement, nous ne voulons pas faire l'Academie Francaise etre malheureux! (S'il vous plait, excusez ma grammaire mal. J'ai oublie presque tout mon Francais! Il y a sept ans depuis que j'etudie ou pratique le langue.)

-Melissa

 

[winyan]

Yup, exactly, the word fiance/fiancee is of French derivation.

win

 

[Hongerhond]

I don't speak French, so I went to www.freetranslation.com. The translation is a little strange, but it gives you the general idea:

"And SVP, it would be important of well to respect the spelling otherwise the people of the French academy will not be happy."

 

[Meraj]

"Man is fiance & woman is fiancee."

An easy way to remember may be... A man has to finance the diamond ring. A woman will scream "ee" if the diamond isn't big enough!

 

[dimonbob]

Thanks glitterata
I just wrote that down on a card and put it on the board next to my monitor. Maybe it will sink in.

 

[AGBF]

Good gracious! Since I knew the difference between "fiance" and "fiancee" (add accents in one's head) I ignored this thread. What an error! It has been a pleasure to read . I, also, always wish the bride "good luck" even if I congratulate the groom. I believe it is a function of age. (No offense intended to you, fire&ice. You are considerably younger than I even if you are no longer a teenager and I didn't mean to imply you were as elderly as I am .)

 

[Rank Amateur]

grahv to the right
eh-goo to the left

stand up sit down fight fight fight.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Rank's gone over the edge...

 

[AGBF]

Hiya, Rich! Do you speak French? I realize you may, but for anyone who doesn't, R/A is no farther gone than usual. He is making up (or recollecting from his school room days) a little cheer about of the name of French accents. (I confess I never heard this ditty before.) At any rate, one French accent dips down from left to right, the other from right to left. He left out the one that looks like a dunce cap, though. (A Freudian slip?)

 

[giz]

Here's a French lesson from a French Canadian girl

Fiancé designates masculine and by adding an -e- at the end of the word it indicates female -- fiancée. The accent on the e creates the (ay) sound.

Giz

 

[winyan]

Hey, you think you have problems w/ fiance/fiancee?

I've had Jeannine for a first name, all my life, and an inability to put the accent over the first e when using a computer!

bah, humbug.

win

 

[Rank Amateur]

----------------
On 8/15/2003 1:10:53 PM AGBF wrote:

Hiya, Rich! Do you speak French? I realize you may, but for anyone who doesn't, R/A is no farther gone than usual. He is making up (or recollecting from his school room days) a little cheer about of the name of French accents. (I confess I never heard this ditty before.) At any rate, one French accent dips down from left to right, the other from right to left. He left out the one that looks like a dunce cap, though. (A Freudian slip?)

----------------

Can the Çedilla get some love over here?

 

[Smooth]

I learned to remember "accent grave" as the one that points downward, towards the grave. A bit morbid, perhaps, but it worked.

BTW, the "dunce cap" is called an "accent circonflex" if memory serves.