French Offensive

Famous quotes containing the words french and/or offensive:

    In matter of commerce the fault of the Dutch
    Is offering too little and asking too much.
    The French are with equal advantage content,
    So we clap on Dutch bottoms just twenty per cent.
    George Canning (1770–1827)

    Uses are always much broader than functions, and usually far less contentious. The word function carries overtones of purpose and propriety, of concern with why something was developed rather than with how it has actually been found useful. The function of automobiles is to transport people and objects, but they are used for a variety of other purposes—as homes, offices, bedrooms, henhouses, jetties, breakwaters, even offensive weapons.
    Frank Smith (b. 1928)