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Fox's paw: a slang entry from Grose's 1785 dictionary
Original: FOX'S PAW. The vulgar pronunciation of the French words faux pas. He made a confounded fox's paw. A selection from Franc
A newly shared entry from Francis Grose's 1785 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines 'fox's paw' as a vulgar English mangling of the French phrase 'faux pas', used in sentences like 'he made a confounded fox's paw'. Readers of history and language posts have been passing the definition around as a curiosity of eighteenth-century slang and English borrowing from French.
Why now: People enjoy curiosities from Grose's historical slang dictionary, and this entry neatly illustrates how English speakers corrupted French phrases.
Francis GroseDictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Evidence
- FOX'S PAW. The vulgar pronunciation of the French words faux pas. He made a confounded fox's paw. A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785) -- # books # literature # dictionaries # history # society # language # slang @ histodons · TheVulgarTongue@zirk.us · 10
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