The Misuse of the word “Haute”

As a native French speaker, I find it disturbing that the misused association with the French word “haute” and “hot” as somehow phonetically similar.

“Haute” is of course referenced to  “Haute Couture”, by definition it means “high end” in the context of fashion. When we enunciate the original french way, it sounds like “o-tuh” with a brief “t” at the end. So if you know any basics in French, “Haute” and “hot” do not sound alike at all.

So when I see things like the recent J.Crew ad of “Haute for the Holidays” or at Vitamin Daily, it just rings terribly ugly. “O-tuh for the Holidays” which clearly tries to make an allusion to “Hot for the Holidays” by trying some alliteration.  Are they trying to saying “Haute” in a German accent? “How-tuh”?

Either way, fashion advertisers maybe should play a round of Boggle in order to get words that actually sound similar and not embarrass themselves with silly play on words that don’t work. There’s nothing wrong in inventing words like “Freakonomics” or having funny alliterations like “Beads for Boobies.” I’m not a language police, but it’s annoying to see a French word made like it sounds similar to another word when it clearly doesn’t.

Otez-moi ça! C’est débile!