However when I came across it again in THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN I just felt I had to document it.
At the beginning of chapter 2
On turning a corner he came upon a scene of some activity....
"Something has been happening, yes?"
"Mais oui, Monsieur. Two apaches set upon an elderly American gentleman."
Then in chapter 4, the American gentleman is talking to his daughter
"Nothing to tell Ruthie. Some apache fellows got a bit fresh and I shot at them and they got off. That's all."
Apparently the word came into use 1915-20 via French
n. pl. a·paches (ə-pāsh', ä-päsh')
- A member of the Parisian underworld.
- A thug; a ruffian.
Have you come across similar words in your reading?
4 comments:
That is very interesting. I would have been very confused had I come across that--wondering why she was referring to American Indians in such a way.
Very glad to learn this little tidbit.
Well, after all this is from a time when she could write a book called "Ten Little Niggers"
An interesting exmaple of a word that dropped out of English usage in this way. Doesn't seem to have been taken up by nay other writers that I know of. I've never come across it in Semenon for example, but then I am reading Enlgish translations and the original French may well have had apache in it.
It is a also a comment isn't it on the evolving nature of the English language. I was only talking recently with someone about how English picks up words from other languages - some of them stick and others don't survive.
Even the words "fellows got a bit fresh" uses fresh in a way we don't use it now.
And you are right about Ten Little Niggers Dorte. all full of politically incorrect connotations now.
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