W. R. Gibbons wrote:
>
> On Fri, 7 Feb 1997 Rootes2@aol.com wrote:
>
> > BTW, if anybody has a parts Magnette,...SNIP...
>
> I have a bunch of refrigerator magnettes, ...SNIP...
>
> But seriously, now, folks, what is the meaning of the name "Magnette?" I
> mean, I understand why a company would name a car the Super Snipe, heck,
> who wouldn't? But Magnette?
>
> Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
> Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
> gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
No, no, Ray, you have a bunch of magnets, not magnettes. The word
magnette is surely the French version of the word, magnet, as the word
Concorde is the French version of the word Concord. (Of course, the
French people would say it is all the other way round, however...) Why a
British car manufacturer would name a car with the French version of the
word is beyond my comprehension, unless it was to emphasise the fact
that the car was poles apart from anything the French could make! Of
course, the word magnette is the FEMININE version of the word magnet,
but I am not going to touch that with a barge pole.
Geoff Love, Le Connection Anglais.
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