It's funny how "delicatessen" in German is "Feinkost" and "double entendre" in French is "double sens". (Though sure, both world be understood in French/German.) Does anyone else know any other "loan words" which were not just loaned, but stolen?
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"Home office" was in use in Britain, from what I remember of the nineties, though I haven't heard it much since...
Relatedly, can you think of any words loaned to German which *partially* Germanize the pronunciation? For example, "Orangensaft" retains the soft "g" from EN/FR, but the vowels are German. I thought there were others, but can't think of them at the moment...
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I think it's depends on the region. Prussians have adapted many words from French, so you'll find many words pronounced with hard consonants and German vowels. "Ensemble" (as in orchestra) = Angssambel, "Sanssouci" = Sangssussi.
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English has the same (I *think*) contortion of "ensemble", which always sounds bad (to me) shoehorned into three syllables...
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My favorite word used in the Berlin area is "Schisslaweng", from "c'est le vin" or "ainsi cela vint". It describes small visual additions to a thing to confer a lightness, and can refer also to a casual, easy way of doing something.
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Similarly: "Fisimatenten" = nonsense or trouble. It's origin isn't clear but may be French from "visitez ma tente" - parents warned their daughters not to do "Fisimatenten" by following a French officer into his tent during siege.
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