In French, the device is called "capote
anglaise"
Then there is the story : (with apologies for spellings.)
An Englishman and his French-speaking wife were on holiday in France when the wife had a heart attack and died. The husband was in dire straits as he spoke very little French beyond Hello and Thank You. With much difficulty he managed to arrange for his wife's remains to be shipped back to England for burial. As he was dressing to acompany his beloved to her final resting place he realized the rather rakish hat he'd worn for the vacation was hardly suitable for a recent widower. He looked in the dictionary and found the words "Chapeau" for hat and "noir" for black and ventured forth to buy a suitable black hat.
At the store, however, he mispronounced the word and asked for a "capote noir" - with difficulty he got through to the clerk that his wife had just died and that he needed a "capote noir." The amazed clerk regarded him for a moment and then, with awe in his voice, exclaimed : "Quelle finesse."
