The economy of language

English is generally considered to be the most economic of Canada's two official languages. The sentence structure is lighter, paragraphs generally 25% shorter. Although the English writing style has plenty of flourish, it only really gets taken out on special occasions - kind of like your mother's best Sunday hat.

And yet, French words are often so much more succinct, encapsulating entire thoughts into one word that English has no equivalent for. For example, la releve. There is no one English word to adequately express that same thought. The OLF translates it as "crew change-off".

Has the world ever seen three more awkward words clustered into a so-called definition?

However, I have found at least two instances of a French translation being unequal to its English translation. And terribly awkward to boot.

meneuse de claque

Too many 'e's. Also, this term immediately makes me think, "bringers of rubber overshoes" or "bringers of the STD". As much as you may dislike 'cheerleader' as a notion, at least the English word embodies the perky ponytails and spangly shoelaces of the pom-pom set.

diseuse de bonne aventure

Too many bloody vowels. Yes, the bonne aventure part elicits a far more optimistic feeling than "fortune", but it has none of the mystic, exotic and dark aromas of "fortune". Fortuneteller arouses images of scarves and bejewelled fingers and dark shadows swimming in a crystal ball. Diseuse de bonne aventure makes me think of a really gossipy aunt with an overactive imagination and a propensity to lie.

If I come across any other ones, I'll let you know. Any nominations?