Les Faux Amis, False French Friends

I'm still struggling, after all these years with speaking, reading, writing French.  While I can communicate most of the time and understand what others say, sometimes it isn't pretty.

Verb conjugations go out the window in a heated debate.  Articles and adjectives, which must agree in gender and number, get all fouled up.  People get the idea, I'm sure.  This is all very hard for an educated person to deal with but this is my reality.

Luckily, today's faux amis lesson involved a stranger; I'll never see him again and he taught me a word.  Bravo.

I was jogging (slowly) in the Luxembourg Gardens this morning and a man wearing a suit and tie, dress shirt, hard shoes, flagged me down and when I stopped, he said, "Une Bonne Allure".  Hmmm, I thought it must be this cute pink jacket from Athleta.  Smiling, I finished my workout and came home to look it up, just to make sure I knew what he was saying.

Alas, "allure" is another faux amis, it means "pace or speed".  He was either complimenting my speed or telling me to go faster, I'll never know which one.

Faux amis are horrifying to me.

Here are some more that could slip out of my mouth at any time. The first word is the English, the second is the meaning in French.

Sensible
Delai
Raisin
Prune
Intoxicaation
Hardi
Assister

There are hundreds of such traps just waiting to be sprung on me.