Skip to main content

French Phrases

When you want a character to sound pretentious, nothing beats a nice turn of French. Somehow, American writers (and readers) associate all things French with money, pretense, and culture. It’s quite the mix of responses, a “love-hate” relationship with France. If you want a character with class, or one completely without class, French is a wonderful tool.

– Words and Phrases –

affaire de coeur - love affair
au contraire - to the contrary
au fait - possessing practical knowledge of a thing
au revoir - until we meet again
autre temps, autres moeurs - other times, other customs
avec plaisir - with pleasure
bête noire - a thing especially disliked
bon jour - good day; hello
bon soir - goodnight
bourgeoisie - middle-class, materialistic
c’est-à-dire - that is to say
c’est la vie - such is life
chacun à son goût - each to his own taste
coup de grâce - death blow
coûte que coûte - cost what it cost
dégagé - without emotional links
de trop - too much or too many
dernier ressort - last option
Dieu avec nous - God is with us
Dieu défend le droit - God defends the right
en plein jour - In full daylight; openly
en rapport - in sympathy
fait accompli - accomplished fact; finished act
femme de chambre - chambermaid
fête champêtre - outdoor festival
gardez la foi - keep the faith
grand monde - world at large; refined society
honi soit qui mal y pense - evil be with him who has evil thoughts
ici on parle français - French is spoken here
jeu de mots - play on words; a pun
jeu d’esprit - play of wit
j’y suis, j’y reste - here I am, here I stay
le roi est mort, vive le roi - The king is dead, long live the king.
le style, c’est l’homme - the style is the man
mise en scène - setting; environment; the stage
mon ami - my friend; my love (friendly)
n’est ce pas? - isn’t that so?
nom de guerre - assumed name
objet d’art - object of art
peu de chose - a small matter
pièce de résistance - the primary event; main reason; principal meal
pis aller - last resort
quand même - nevertheless; nonetheless
qui s’excuse, s’accuse - he who excuses himself, accuses himself
raison d’état - for the good of the country
raison d’être - reason for being
sans peur et sans reproche - without fear, without reproach
sans souci - carefree
tant mieux, tant pis - so much the better, so much the worse

voilà - look or see
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Liu Xue: Sculpture

Chinese artist Liu Xue has created some fabulous anthropomorphic sculpture which are sure to tweak your “Eweeee, gross!” button, in a great way. The unusual hybrids are from his series - ‘We are the World’ and they aren’t far from it. Obese fat Buddha men sit on their frog legs or flippers while emaciated men and women balance on chicken legs or dog bodies. The different anatomies merge seamlessly into a viable being.  They are distorted and somewhat monstrous – yet at the same time so realistic, one might believe they actually do exist. Liu lives in Beijing, Chaoyang, China and that’s about all we could find out about him. We would love to know a little about his process – any Chinese folks out there that could throw a little research our way? LINK: To Liu’s  Website/Blog
Post a Comment
Read more

Wildlife conservation on ice: frozen zoos to save animals

  On the edge: Disease and habitat loss is decimating wild amphibian populations globally, with more than 200 species needing urgent intervention through captive breeding, says Dr. Simon Clulow. In a south-eastern suburb in Melbourne, there’s a zoo. It has no visitors, and there are no animals anywhere inside it. Rather, the Australian Frozen Zoo houses living cells and genetic material from Australian native and rare and exotic species. This place, and others like it, could be a big part of the future of conservation. Department of Biological Sciences’ Simon Clulow and his colleagues make the case for ‘biobanking’ in a recent piece in Conservation Letters. Clulow is keen to stress that this doesn’t mean getting rid of conventional zoos or captive breeding programs. “Captive breeding has had some wonderful successes, and there will always be a huge place for it,” he says. PhD student and lead author Lachlan Howell agrees. “It was captive breeding that brought the giant panda back f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Room XX

Recently the Spanish Government officially presented Miquel Barceló’s latest art installation in the UN’s palace of Nations in Geneva. The controversial work of art is a massive sculptural installation located on the domed ceiling of the building’s newly created human rights and alliance of civilizations chamber, known as room XX. The work consists of multi-coloured stalactite forms that appear to be dripping from the ceiling. The art project was introduced by the Spanish organization ONUART, which was established in 2007 to promote dialogue, through the use of Spanish contemporary arts to create understanding between cultures and societies and to foster multilateralism at the UN in Geneva. Inspiration: Miquel Barceló’s work often features natural elements and imagery but the chamber’s ceiling takes this idea literally by recreating the natural stalactite forms, albeit through the artist’s lens. Barceló has revealed that the concept for the project came to him while he wa...
Post a Comment
Read more