Foreign Words and Phrases
Etymology—The etymology of a word is its history or origin. You will
find the etymology in the dictionary entry for the word. Sometimes the
language the word comes from will be abbreviated. For example, L
means the word is Latin, It means Italian, F or Fr means French, etc.
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faux pas (F) “foe PAH”—literally means “false step”—A faux pas is an
embarrassing social blunder or mistake in etiquette or manners.
Burping loudly at the dinner table is a faux pas in American culture;
however in some cultures, it is a way to compliment the chef!
bon mot (F) “bahn moe”—literally means “good word”—A bon mot is a
witty remark or comment, a clever saying, or a witticism. Note that bon
is the French form of the Latin root ben/bene, which means good.
(Remember the example words for that root…benefit, benevolent,
benediction…)
bon vivant (F) “bahn vee-vahnt”—literally means “good living”—A bon
vivant is someone who lives luxuriously, enjoying expensive/good food
and drink. Note that it has the Latin root viv, meaning live. (Remember
the QUACK word convivial—lively, festive, fond of partying.) If I win the
lottery, I could be a bon vivant, or I could use my wealth to help less
fortunate people.
quid pro quo (L)—It means You do something for me, and I’ll do
something for you. In English we say, “You scratch my back, and I’ll
scratch yours.”
Je ne sais quoi (F) “jeh neh say qwah” —literally it means “ I do not
know what”—When we are talking about an interesting or unique
quality of a person, but we can’t quite identify that quality, we say that
they have that certain something….that je ne sais quoi.
ennui (F) “ohn WEE”—It means BOREDOM! As I listened to my elderly
stepdad talk for over an hour about his cousin’s sister’s retirement
home, I suffered from a serious case of ennui!
ad nauseam (L) “ad NAH-zee-um”—literally means “to a sickening
degree”—If someone is telling you the same thing over and over until
you are so SICK of hearing about it that you want to scream, then they
are telling you about this ad nauseam. A synonym would be our
QUACK word belabor, meaning to repeat something again and again.
mal de mer (F I think…) “mal de mare”—literally means “bad of the
sea”—It simply means seasickness. When we went on a cruise ship, my
husband suffered from mal de mer, but I did not. (Remember the Latin
root mal which means bad and the example words….malnutrition,
malfunction, malodorous…)
pro bono (L) “pro bone-oh”--It means “for free”—I most frequently see
this word used in connection with lawyers. Sometimes a lawyer will
work pro bono for human rights issues.
savoir faire (F) “saaa-vwah fair”—If someone has savoir faire, it means
they know what to do in any social situation. It’s about knowing
manners, being decorous or having a sense of decorum (QUACK!), and
having excellent common sense.
sotto voce (It) “SEW-toe VOE-shay”— literally means “under the
voice”—If you are speaking sotto voce, you are whispering so softly that
I can hardly hear you.
memento mori (L) “meh-MENTO MORE-ee”—It means, “Remember,
someday you will die.” It is to remind us of our mortality.
schadenfreude (G) “SHAW-den FROI-duh”–It means to experience joy
at someone else’s misfortune. Schade=too bad Freude=joy
zeitgeist (G) “tsight guyst” –literally means “time ghost/spirit”—It
means the overall feeling (spirit) a group of people has at a particular
time in history. Right after 9/11, the zeitgeist in this country was very
patriotic. In the 1980’s, the zeitgeist of American culture was to make
as much money as possible and not care who got hurt in the process.
(See the character Gordon Gecko from the 1980’s movie Wall Street for
an example.) The zeitgeist of the 1960’s was one of cultural and social
revolution. Many people wanted to change the status quo; this feeling
fueled the Civil Rights Movement and helped Cesar Chavez bring better
working conditions to migrant farmworkers.
bête noire (F) “bet NWAHR”—literally means “beast dark/black”—It is
something or someone that you despise or hate. For some students,
Reading Counts is their bête noire.
C’est la vie (F) “say lah vee”—It means That’s life! That’s the way life
is…Such is life!
hors d’oeuvre (F) “ore derve”—It means appetizer. At the Super Bowl
party, they served nachos as an hors d’oeurve. Then we had burgers for
the main course.
elan (F) “ay-LAHN”—If you do something with elan, you do it with flair
and style and class.
angst (G) “ahngst” –It means great anxiety or fear/worry about
something. Speaking in front of a large group of people gives many
humans angst.
Carpe diem (L) “CAR-pay DEE-em”—literally means “seize the day”—
It’s an expression that means “Live for the moment; don’t worry about
the future.”