"pigeon" -- French slang

[Joel S. Berson]

According to Elaine Ganley and Sylvie Corbet,
writing for the Associated Press and as published
April 30 in the Boston Globe, article titled
"France cuts tax to boost start-ups" --

The Socialist president has been viewed by some
as an antibusiness leader and infuriated
entrepreneurs last year by proposing increased
taxes on investments. In response, entrepreneurs,
calling themselves ‘‘pigeons’’ — French slang for
someone who has been duped — launched an online
opposition campaign that quickly got tens of
thousands of ‘‘likes’’ on Facebook and trended on Twitter.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/04/29/france-cuts-taxes-boost-entrepreneurs/Nr09jKCHZCZDpgpCEcMO4L/story.html

And I thought it was English, and had centuries
ago migrated from "slang" to colloquial".  Is partridge wrong?

Joel

P.S.  Yes I know the word is the same in French
as in English -- it just struck me funny that an
article in English is explaining to American readers that a pigeon is a dupe.

JSB

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