Milord

In the nineteenth century, milord (also milor) (French pronunciation [milɔʁ]) was well known as a word that continental Europeans (especially French), whose jobs often brought them into contact with travellers (innkeepers, guides, etc.), commonly used to address Englishmen or male English-speakers who seemed to be upper-class (or whom they wished to flatter) – even though the English-language phrase "my Lord" (the source of "milord") played a somewhat minor role in the British system of honorific forms of address, and most of those addressed as "milord" were not in fact proper "lords" (members of the nobility) at all. The word "milord" was occasionally borrowed back into the English language in order to be used as a sarcastic or jocular reference to British travellers abroad.

(Most English-speaking tourists in the 18th century had to be rich to undertake the "Grand Tour".)

The most famous usage in recent years has been the 1959 French song "Milord" by Edith Piaf.

In Greece the equivalent was O Lordos; Lord Byron was known as "O Lordos" (The Lord), or "Lordos Veeron" (as the Greeks pronounce it), causing things as varied as hotels, ships, cricket teams, roads and even suburbs to be called "Lord Byron" today.

Milord (song)

"Milord" (pronounced: [milɔʀ]) or "Ombre de la Rue" ([ɔmbʀə dø la ʀy]) is a 1959 song (lyrics by Georges Moustaki, music by Marguerite Monnot), famously sung by Édith Piaf. It is a chanson that recounts the feelings of a lower-class "girl of the port" (perhaps a prostitute) who develops a crush on an elegantly attired apparent upper-class British traveller (or "milord"), whom she has seen walking the streets of the town several times (with a beautiful young woman on his arm), but who has not even noticed her. The singer feels that she is nothing more than a "shadow of the street" (ombre de la rue). Nonetheless, when she talks to him of love, she breaks through his shell; he begins to cry, and she has the job of cheering him up again. She succeeds, and the song ends with her shouting "Bravo! Milord" and "Encore, Milord".

The song was a #1-hit in Germany in July 1960. In UK it reached #24 (1960), in Sweden #1 during 8 weeks (15/6-1/8 1960), in Norway #6 (1959), and in the United States #88 (Billboard Hot 100 in 1961).

Milord (album)

Milord is an Italian album by Dalida. It contains her Italy's Top 10 hits like "Milord", "Gli zingari", "Uno a te uno a me" (also as "I ragazzi del Pireo"), and "Pezzetinni di bikini".

Track listing

See also

References

External links