French of Stratford at Bow
Preserved but no longer current.
This has been taken to mean French as spoken by an Englishman, and a Cockney at that, but it has no such ironical connotation. Stratford and Bromley were fashionable suburbs in those days, and at Bromley was the convent of St.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “French of Stratford at Bow” mean?
This has been taken to mean French as spoken by an Englishman, and a Cockney at that, but it has no such ironical connotation. Stratford and Bromley were fashionable suburbs in those days, and at Bromley was the convent of St.
Is “French of Stratford at Bow” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.