Dieu et mon droit ! A British motto ?!

Was just reading a short topic about "Dieu et mon droit" on antimoon, and I couldnt find my answers in it.

Spoke with a bloke from Kent and most Brits don't know the motto, or believe is written in Latin not French. Is French still the posh class language in Britain ?

***Is French still the posh class language in Britain ? ***

Sorry but that question made me laugh a wee bit, but it was the case 800 or so years ago. French was the Language spoken in the royal Court.... of England. Your Kentish bloke was spot on - most English people (or rather Brits) wouldn't have a clue (or a care a toss to be honest) that the motto of the British Monarch (currently Queen Lilibet the two-th) is still "God and my right" but the French words are still used on the crest: "Dieu et mon droit".

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/motto.html

It's a wee bit difficult for anyone with a modicum of education to not know whether "Dieu et mon droit" is either French or Latin. Unless you come from England itself! :-) only joking.....

Some people will often insert French phrases, such as 'raison d'être', or 'la pièce de resisstance' in attempt to sound sophisticated. But no -- if you speak French most of the time in England, it means that you actually ARE French (or Belgian, Swiss, Luxembourgish, Québecois etc.), not that you're posh.

"Dieu et mon droit ! A British motto ?!"

Yes indeed, and it will still be for at least 1000 years from now.

Even further back in history were the Norman French who were in the upper classes hence their influence on English.

<<Is French still the posh class language in Britain ?>>

It's true only in the sense that words of Latinate (including French) origin sound more sophisticated than those of Anglo-Saxon origin. The English vocabulary is very large, because Anglo-Saxon and Latin(ate) words and phrases exist parallel to each other. Many Anglo-Saxon words have their Latinate/French counterparts, and they do not differ in meaning, only in style.

For example: belly - stomach (the fist one is the Anglo-Saxon
begin - commence word, the second one is the
answer - reply Latin/French counterpart)
ward - guard

The Latin/French words/phrases are used in more formal speech, and therefore sound more "posh". And, as Benjamin says, many people insert French phrases to sound more sophisticated.

But French is no more a posh class language in Britain, or not a language used as a "class language". If you speak French over there you are simply considered to be French-speaking (above listed by Benjamin).