Point one: I’ve never studied French. Point two: I love the typical sound of French loudspeakers; great high end, beautiful balance and accuracy, lots of body.

Loving French loudspeakers and not speaking French has introduced a degree of embarrassment into my life. I have always called Focal loudspeakers, from France, by their English pronunciation, as in focal length. This has caused various PR people, importers, salespeople and French speakers to smile patronisingly and say “It’s actually pronounced focahle.” A tsk-tsk usually precedes this.

And now here I am, listening to some French loudspeakers which wear a badge that says "Triangle", and I suspect I am about to make a boofhead of myself again. In an attempt to head the posse from the Académie française off at the pass I seek the help of an ex-girlfriend who now teaches French, as I deeply suspect the French have their own particular way of pronouncing triangle as well. ‘Could it be tree-onglay?’ I ask her both phonetically and hopefully.

She smiles patronisingly. “Le tree-ong,” she replies both phonetically and triumphantly. She continues: “Haut parleur is French for loudspeaker; a masculine noun. That is, le haut parleur. It’s one of those words that does not permit one to elide the e in le.”

I’m so glad to know that. I resolve to continue pronouncing them as in equilateral triangle and simply wear Kevlar when in France.