Are you smarter than a ten year old?
In my recent forays to the gym I have seen adverts on the TV screens for a new quiz show. As I'm usually listening to the Iliad (see blogs passim) I haven't heard the voice over, but the title seems reasonably self-explanatory: "Are you smarter than a ten year old?" As the answer to the question should obviously be "yes", I guessed that the purpose of the show would be to thwart the (adult) viewer's expectations. Sure enough footage follows of adults dutifully slapping their foreheads in disbelief, sinking their collective heads into their collective hands and gaping in horror at an array of small, and clearly triumphant, children.
As the Misses Bookworld will be ten on Tuesday, I am finding the adverts rather unsettling. "How long before I cease to be of any help with homework?" I wondered. "Quite soon", came the answer with last night's English homework. Find a word containing the consonant combination "ch" where it sounds like "sh". The example given was "machine". Foreign words are excluded, as Daughter number one discovered when she suggested "pain au chocolat" as an example at school, and it would also be preferable if the word could plausibly be known to a ten year old and not immediately obvious to the teacher as parental intervention.
The three adults present fell silent, gazed at the ceiling, sucked their teeth. Perhaps it had been a long day or perhaps I am destined for TV humiliation, but all I could come up with was "trebuchet" and "chinoiserie", the latter I'm sure is an English word despite being French (if you see what I mean). My mother saved the day with "moustache". At 2am I added creche, brioche, ganache, gauche, panache and gouache. But to my mind they're all really French words even if they do appear in an English dictionary.
As the homework has now been handed in, I feel no guilt in soliciting your collective expertise. Can anyone think of a genuinely English word containing "ch" when it sounds like "sh"? Come on, we adults need to prove ourselves smart enough to be able to do a (nearly) ten year old's homework.
I have a ten month old and I have been wondering whether a ten month old is smarter than a dog. I suppose it depends on the breed of dog. The baby now responds to my voice and seems to understand elementary instructions such as don't poke daddy's eye out. So I think he has passed the intelligence level of even the smartest golden retriever.
Posted by: The Cricket | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 01:59 PM
Chauffeur, chalet, chenille, chiffon. All French again, as far as I can see, and if 'pain au chocolat' is out (which is also in the OED), then they should be too. I'll be intrigued to discover which words are acceptable!
Posted by: Becky | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 02:28 PM
Ricochet. Cliche. Quiche. Charlotte. Cheyenne. Michelle.
I think your mother's word is the best one for a ten year old.
Posted by: Susan | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 02:36 PM
Even "machine" is French. Perhaps there is no "sh" sound represented by "ch" in Anglo-Saxon words. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can come up with one. Otherwise, it's just a question of how long the French word has been used in English, which seems pretty arbitrary (and would require the students to have access to the OED for the dates).
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:33 PM
Ok, because I'm addicted to words I looked up the first instances of the aforementioned French words in English (from the OED).
machine: 1545
moustache: 1585
pain au chocolat: 1943
trebuchet: 1223!
chinoiserie: 1883 (chinois: 1613)
creche: 1792
brioche: 1826
ganache: no entry
gauche: 1751
panache: 1584 (different usage)
gouache: 1882
Looks like trebuchet wins hands down--perhaps William the Conquerer had some!
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:45 PM
I am taking a wild stab at this. How about parachute?
Posted by: deb | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:48 PM
I know that the letter c makes a S sound in front of the vowels i and e. Perhaps ch does likewise.
Posted by: deb | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:51 PM
Some other old ones:
chenille: 1738
chiffon: 1765
richochet: 1758
charlotte: 1796 (the dessert)
cheyenne: 1778 (originally from Dakota, so arguably not "foreign" for Americans)
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:53 PM
parachute: 1784
(I really must get a hobby...)
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 06:54 PM
The OED has an entry on "ch" as a sound. Looks like the only time it is pronounced as "sh" is in French words.
"ch has the sound of sh in words from modern French; occasionally in words really from Old French, which are now erroneously treated as if from modern French, as chivalry, champaign."
Looks like the teacher was asking the impossible.
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 07:08 PM
I knew, I knew, that you would do me proud!
Sylvia gets teacher's award for most assiduous student. Go straight to the top of the class.
And thank you, everyone, for taking the time to puzzle this over with us.
For the record we have since added panache, pastiche, microfiche, brochure, champagne, crochet, French (disputed), cache, and yes, chauffeur. And yes, we are becoming worryingly obsessive about this!
Posted by: Sandra | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 09:09 PM
Forgot choux pastry.
And then Charlotte suggested charlatan.
I really do wish I could stop.
Oh, and charabanc.
Posted by: Sandra | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 09:21 PM
Chemise. Chivalry.
OK, the (not quite) ten year olds are truly vanquished.
[cloche, charade, chic]
Enough. I'm going to bed.
Posted by: Sandra | Thursday, 11 October 2007 at 09:49 PM
So far chemise is the winner for oldest French loan-word with ch -- ca. 1050 -- pre-conquest!
Posted by: Sylvia | Friday, 12 October 2007 at 02:54 AM
This sounds like a show that is currently on in the States, only it's called Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? I actually happened to watch about ten minutes of it last night. I couldn't turn it off as a college student was trying to figure out what European country the state of Bavaria was located in. He answered Poland. But he was saved and won $100,000 because the fifth grader he had picked as his back up answered correctly.
Sylvia's word detective work cracked me up :)
Posted by: stefanie | Friday, 12 October 2007 at 05:01 PM
Echelon. Ruche. Chaise. I'm sure I could think of more if it wasn't so late (and I probably will - the moment I turn the computer off!)
Posted by: CoversGirl | Saturday, 13 October 2007 at 02:20 PM
Though not particularly old words, but suitable for 10-year-olds, add: chef, niche, chute.
Others: chichi, chevre, chevalier
For bonus points, here's one that doesn't come via French: pistachio
Posted by: Isabella | Sunday, 14 October 2007 at 04:40 PM
Nicely done, Isabella!
Posted by: Sylvia | Sunday, 14 October 2007 at 07:16 PM
My Concise OED says that "Trebuchet" has it's origins in Old English, "from Old French, from trebucher 'overthrow'".
So you can't even have that.
I can't believe they didn't allow "Pain Au Chocolat". It's part of the language. Might come from French, but everyone in the UK knows what it means.
Posted by: ResoluteReader | Monday, 15 October 2007 at 10:31 PM