French spelling question?
 

Actually a capitalization question. How to title an invitation?

Cocktail and Hors d'oeuvres Reception
or
Cocktail and Hors d'Oeuvres Reception

(note the "o")

Since your are writing in english, i suppose you should use the english rules.

French rules (but keeping the text inenglish) would give :
Coktail and hors d'oeuvres reception (initial capital, all the rest in lower cases since there are no names).

I guess I really have 2 questions. Next is should oeuvre be be plural?

So,

1. Cocktail and Hors d'oeuvre Reception
2. Cocktail and Hors d'Oeuvre Reception
3. Cocktail and Hors d'oeuvres Reception
4. Cocktail and Hors d'Oeuvres Reception

What's your vote???
Thanks, annieladd

I wouldn't think capitalisation is necessary in English either, and you could just say

Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres

(I'm reminded of the local Conservative Association who thought they ought to find a more amusing way of announcing a fundraising event, and found themselves explaining to the local paper "We thought if we called it a 'Wine and You Know What Party', people would know we meant wine and cheese - we had no idea they'd think up something else").

The french expression is hors d'oeuvres with a s (without, it doesn't make sense)

Never an "s" on "oeuvre": hors d'oeuvre means, literally, "outside the (main) work", so no "s". Bon appetit!(should have accent but I can't figure out how to get 'em on in this program!)

So I have one with an "s" and one without, yikes.

The caps are staying, so assuming that, does the "O" get a cap or not?

Thanks, annieladd

Why not just call them nibbles.

I vote for #3.

If this group can't decide, perhaps it doesn't matter as your guests might not know either.

The correct spelling would be hors d'oeuvre. You could always fudge and just say appetizers.

Why are you not using the plural cocktails? Are you planning to limit service to one only?

Anyhow, it sounds like the guests of honor for this reception are Cocktail and Hors d'Oeuvre!

If this is a printed reception (and I assume that you are receiving "someone", and so the cocktail and hors d'oeuvre offerings are just part of the occasion), then I would personally print

&lt;--center--&gt;<b>Reception</b>&lt;--center--&gt;
&lt;--c--&gt;honoring Xxx and Yyy Zzzzzzzz&lt;--c--&gt;
and then, in a smaller font...
Cocktail and hors d'oeuvre service from x to y pm

You could even add &quot;Invitation designed by committee, courtesy of Fodors.com&quot; if you wish...

:)

Best wishes,

Rex

I don't speak French but I think the s added at the end does plural it. also i don't think any of the letters need to be capitalized.

but i don't think it is necessary to worry either way.

Cocktails and hors d'oeuvre

or

Cocktails et hors d'oeuvre

But personally I'd make it even poncier by saying:

Cocktails et amuses bouches

crap, crap, crap! Made a mistake:

Cocktails et amuses bouche...

interesting....my dictionary reads:
amuse-geule (pl. amuse-gueules)&quot;

.....though I agree that the current usage of bouche sounds more refined,,, if logic follows, wouldn't that be a hyphenated word as well? i.e. amuse-bouche/amuse-bouches???

Drats! that should read &quot;gueule&quot;!

By the way hors d'oeuvres means starters : do you intend to present your guests with just starters and let them eat the rest of the meal somewhere else ?
What is served with ap&eacute;ritifs (coktails) is amuse-geule (no s, each person has only one mug)

Even for the French, &quot;gueule&quot; is a difficult word to spell! :)

A cocktail with hors d'oeuvre would be called a &quot;Lunch&quot; in France (until 2 pm) and just &quot;un cocktail&quot; from 5 pm to dinner time. It implies that some
food will be served with the drinks.

As Norween said, using the word &quot;hors d'oeuvre&quot; suggests that the rest of the meal will come later, but where??

You could write &quot;cocktail and canap&eacute;s&quot;

But in French, canap&eacute; is a sofa. A &quot;cocktail and canap&eacute; reception&quot; might give quite the wrong idea...

A canap&eacute; is a sofa but it is also an amuse-bouche AND a piece of bread fried in butter or oil served with partridge : &quot;Perdreau sur canap&eacute;&quot; is not necessarily eaten while reclining on a couch with Roman abandon :-)

Separate but linked question:

For much of my adult life, you had amuse-gueule. Now it suddenly seems to be amuse-bouche everywhere.

Are the French getting an attack of American-style prissiness (as in rooster for cock, or canola for rape)? Or are they just frightened someone'll ask them to write it down and their orthographic inadequacy will be uncovered?

I would use number 1, presuming this is going to English speakers.

&quot;Cocktail and Hors d'oeuvre Reception&quot;

The words &quot;cocktail&quot; and &quot;hors d'oeuvre&quot; are adjectives describing the &quot;reception&quot;. They would not be plural.

One would not capitalize the H and R in a proper sentence. But I think it's OK in a formal invitation. Have you checked Emily Post or Miss Manners?

Amuse-gueule always belonged to the spoken and informal language.
Amuse-bouche is more formal. Having a &quot;bouche&quot; rather than a &quot;gueule&quot; sets you apart from the usual dog, lion, tiger etc... met on a daily basis in French cities. :-)

BTW there was a book of quotes from Mr G.W Bush with the French title of &quot;Amuse-Bush&quot;

My 'Petit Robert; dictionary (petit, but still 2471 pages) puts a hyphen between amuse and gueule (or bouche) and gives the choice of 's' or not with the plural.

So, 'Des amuse-bouches or des amuse-bouche - defined as 'euphemism for amuse- gueule'

des amuse-gueules or des amuse-gueule

All this talk re: &quot;gueule&quot; reminds me of the choice use of &quot;pie-hole&quot; in a recent thread regarding Brasserie Lipp...good for a chuckle. Language sure can be funny.

Thanks for all your ideas! This is a busines function, so we went with safe albeit boring, Cocktail Buffet. But, St. Cirq, poncier is my new favorite word, even if I don't know exactly what it means! I looked up ponce, and it's a pimp, yikes! BTW, St. Cirq, we were wandering aimlessly through the Dordogne last year, and came across a teeny tiny town. We were driving a rather large van and tentatively made our way up to the top of the village where there was a cave of sorts, but it was locked up. I always wondered if that was your town... annieladd

Why do Americans call their main course an entr&eacute;e?

I'd never heard of the word poncy, or poncier, either, but here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/2gqyst

Learn something new every day! :-D

anniladd: You found me! My house is the next dwelling beyond the cave. The owner of the cave died in 2005 and it's not be open on a regular schedule since then.

St. Cirq, wow I found you!! We were there one day last year, in September I think, when a terrible storm came through in the middle of the night, and knocked down trees across a lot of roads and took out power all over. I think we were going to Font du Gaume that day, and all the power was out (we did make it the next day). It is a perfect little village, I aspire to live just your kind of life! annieladd