What does it mean to have teeth in the English style?

Question

In Chapter VI of Maupassant's novel Bel-Ami, the journalist Robert de Varenne describes the Baroness de Livar as follows (emphasis added):

Une grande sèche, soixante ans, frisons faux, dents à l'anglaise, esprit de Restauration, toilettes même époque.

English translation:

A tall dried-up woman, sixty years old, false curls, English-style teeth, ideas from the Restoration Era, style of dressing from the same period.

What is meant by "dents à l'anglaise"? (And is my translation even correct?)

They may be referring to the myth of bad English teeth, although that seems a bit too current a stereotype. — Sean Duggan, May 21, 2020 at 20:00

Sean Duggan · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-21 20:06:10Z

7

A Google search for the term reveals that it means the same thing as "buck teeth", large front teeth.

In French, buck teeth are called dents à l'anglaise, literally "English teeth."

Also here:

dents à l'anglaise Dents longues et proéminentes

answered May 21, 2020 at 20:06

Sean Duggan

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No dice in Google NGrams, but I'm not getting many hits for french terms there in general.
– Sean Duggan
May 21, 2020 at 20:19
1

Thanks. I couldn't find it in Le Petit Robert (which is not really petit), even though it has other expressions using the phrase "à l'anglaise".
– Tsundoku
May 21, 2020 at 20:52

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