parlez-vous

— At first we greeted them from sheer pity; but the parlez-vouses passed us like so many surly oxen.

— All this time he was speaking French, while my answers and remarks were in English. Suddenly recollecting himself, he said—“Well, here have I been parlez-vousing to you, in a way to surprise you, no doubt; but these Frenchmen have got my tongue so set to their lingo, that I have half forgotten my own language.”[…]“Here,” said he, “you are a friend of the lady, and parlez-vous so much better than I, can you tell me whether this is for jeudi, or lundi, or mardi, or whether it means no day at all.”