"pigeon" -- French slang

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/1/2013 09:55 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>Although the two words are used the same, it
>doesn't work without the explanation. Is that
>because the term is a little obscure in English?

I don't think it's very obscure (and it has a 4
or 5 century provenance.  Another English
word).  Thus my reaction was that the sentence
was a little odd, as though "pigeon" = "dupe" was
particularly, or peculiarly, French.  I would
have written "slang in French as well as English
for someone who has been duped".

Joel


>Benjamin Barrett
>Seattle, WA
>
>On May 1, 2013, at 5:49 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>
> > 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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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org