the times | Wednesday October 14 2020 2GR KM 33
Wo r l d
In recent weeks, France Info, the state
radio station, has mentioned “le top
model Naomi Campbell”, “un pop-up
store Hugo Boss” and “le streetwear” of
the trainers brand Presentedby.
The French culture ministry is having
none of it. It has teamed up with the
country’s Federation of Feminine Prêt-
à-Porter and Federation of Haute Cou-
ture and Fashion to publish a lexicon of
French terms that it wants to be used in
place of their English counterparts.
Top models, for instance, should be
called mannequins vedettes, its guide says.
Rather than a pop-up store, fashion
A 5.4-tonne British bomb thought to be
the biggest piece of unexploded Second
World War ordnance found in Poland
blew up yesterday as naval divers
attempted to disarm it.
The 6m Tallboy, dropped by the RAF
during a 1945 raid on a German heavy
cruiser, was discovered in a busy
navigation canal linking the Oder river
to the Baltic sea.
Though unintended, the explosion
was anticipated by the Polish navy,
which had said that there was a 50-50
chance of setting it off by even a faint
vibration once its casing had been
opened.
Hundreds of people were evacuated
from the coast of northwest Poland
before the disposal operation that was
meant to have taken up to five days.
On Monday divers pried the bomb
free from the bed of the canal and yes-
terday they began to burn through its
2.5-tonne explosive charge — with a
power equivalent to 3.6 tonnes of TNT
— using a remote-controlled device.
During the “deflagration” process
that aimed to burn the charge withoutFrance fights to reclaim the language of fashion
France
Adam Sage Paris
critics should talk about une boutique
éphémère, and instead of streetwear,
they should say la mode de la rue.
“We want to offer... the possibility of
expressing yourself in French in
instances where English has installed
itself,” Paul de Sinety, the French
government’s general delegate for the
French language, said. “There is no
question of banning English.”
For decades, French traditionalists
have looked on in dismay as laws,
decrees and official recommendations
have failed to stop English words
creeping into common usage.
In some areas, like new technology,
the struggle against such anglicisms as
data hubs, followers and smileys — allof which have been denounced this
year by the French Academy, the
custodian of the language — looks vain.
However, fashion is different, as it is
quintessentially French, officials said.
“Paris is the capital of fashion but
our language is no longer used as much
as it was in the past to talk about this
fashion,” Mr De Sinety told Le Figaro.
“However, it’s very chic to speak
French. In China, for example, our
language is learnt because it evokes
lifestyle and elegance whilst here at
home, we prefer to speak English. It’s
contradictory.” He conceded that both
languages had been exchanging words
for centuries.
Even the English word “fashion”, forinstance, has its origins in the French
façon and denim is a contraction of de
Nîmes, meaning from the town Nîmes.
The French have been using the
word pullover since 1925, sweatshirt
since 1936 and T-shirt since 1950, Jean
Pruvost, a lexicologist, said.
François-Marie Grau, the secretary-
general of the Federation of Feminine
Prêt-à-Porter, said that the industry
drew half of its revenue from inter-
national customers, either through
exports, or sales to non-French visitors
in Paris. “Naturally, the marketing
people address the public in English,”
he said. “They are undoubtedly wrong
to do so because our language has a
surprising power of seduction.”En français... s’il vous plaît
Look book Catalogue de collection
Vintage D’époque
Fast fashion Mode éclair
Designer Styliste
Fashion tech Technomode
E-wear Cybervêtement
Flagship store Magasin amiral
Concept store Boutique-concept
Casting Audition
Greenwashing Écoblanchiment
Deep in prayer Nurses in Bangkok marked the fourth anniversary of the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej by prostrating themselves in prayer, a traditional sign
of devotion to the monarch. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 68, and Queen Suthida, 42, appeared less solemn as they met supporters outside Thailand’s Grand Palace
‘Mata Hari of
the Vatican’
held by police
Vatican
Tom Kington Rome
A woman accused of spending Vatican
funds on luxury handbags has been
arrested in Milan on an international
warrant accused of embezzlement.
Cecilia Marogna’s name has emerged
as the Vatican investigates Angelo
Becciu, the Italian cardinal who was
forced to resign last month after
accusations that he misused funds.
Ms Marogna, who describes herself
as a “political analyst and intelligence
expert”, has said she was paid €500,000
to help protect priests and nuns from
the danger of kidnapping in Africa after
being hired by Cardinal Becciu.
An Italian investigative television
programme last week claimed that she
spent €200,000 on luxury products
from brands including Prada, Gucci,
Valentino, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, as
well as €12,000 on an armchair.
Ms Marogna, who has been dubbed
the “Mata Hari of the Vatican”, has
claimed she “did not steal a single euro”,
adding that she had given one handbag
to an African contact in return for
security advice. She has denied having
an affair with Cardinal Becciu, who like
her hails from Sardinia.
Cardinal Becciu oversaw the invest-
ing of millions of euros of Catholic
donations during his stint as deputy at
the Vatican’s secretariat of state from
2011 to 2018. He denies all wrongdoing.RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPARAF bomb goes off as Poles try to defuse it
detonating the bomb, the explosives
went off at 2.30pm local time, throwing
up a column of water. No divers were
hurt but the burst shook the ground and
rattled windows in the nearby port
town of Swinoujscie, formerly known
as Swinemünde, a few miles from the
German border.
“The deflagration process turned in-
to detonation. The object can be con-
sidered neutralised, it will not pose any
more threat,” Lieutenant-Commander
Grzegorz Lewandowski, of the 8th
Polish Coast Defence Fleet, said.
The Tallboy was one of 12 dropped by
18 Lancaster bombers on April 16, 1945,
during an attack on the Lützow, which
had been thwarting the Red Army’s
westward advance and was later
captured by the Russians.
Before this week’s operation began a
yellow buoy marked the location of the
bomb, which was buried in the mud at
12m below the surface of the canal.Poland
Maria Wilczek Warsaw
A Greek farmer was found guilty
yesterday of raping and murdering an
American scientist and dumping her
body in a Nazi bunker.
Giannis Paraskakis, 28, the son of a
priest, was sentenced to life in
prison by a court in Chania in
Crete more than year after
admitting to detectives that he
murdered Suzanne Eaton, 59,
because he was sexually aroused.
He told police that he was a
satanist possessed by
demons but later retracted
his confession.Farmer killed scientist
and hid body in bunker
Dr Eaton, a molecular biologist at the
Max Planck Institute in Dresden
University, was at a science conference
on Crete in July last year and vanished
while going for a run. The prosecution
said that Paraskakis put her in his car
boot after driving over her and went to
the bunker near his olive grove. He
raped her and left her body in an air
shaft. It was later found by cavers in
the tunnels used in the Second
World War by the Nazis.
Dr Eaton had two sons with
her husband, Anthony Hyman, a
British scientist.
A police officer told the
court in Rethymnon that
Paraskakis, a married
father of two, admitted
being “possessed by de-
mons giving him orders”.Greece
Anthee Carassava AthensThe Tallboy detonated without injury
Suzanne Eaton was in
Crete for a conference