Some of My Favourite French Words in English

an essay by Roger B Rueda

‘Adieu’ is used to say goodbye. ‘Gentlemen, I bid you adieu.’ It’s sound [ə dyoo] or [ə doo] is very magical. It has some daintiness. I mean it’s so cute.

‘Bric-a-brac.’ The correct French spelling is ‘bric-à-brac.’ Note that ‘bric and brac’ don't actually mean anything in French; they are onomatopoeic. It’s a number of small ornamental objects of no great value. It’s pronounced as [bríkə bràk]. When I was in Grade Five, I thought bric-a-brac was a cupboard. My teacher told me to look for the brooms in the bric-a-brac. Well, it took me years to know what really ‘bric-a-brac’ is.

‘Comme il faut’ means ‘as it must.’ The proper way, as it should be. It’s so graceful an expression. It’s pronounced as [kŭm' ēl fō'].

‘Du jour’ means ‘of the day.’ 'Soup du jour’ is nothing more than an elegant-sounding version of ‘soup of the day.' It’s pronounced as [doo zhoor].

‘Esprit d'escalier’ means ‘stairway wit.’ Thinking of an answer or comeback too late. It’s pronounced as [e-spree des-kal-i-ye].

‘Force majeure’ means  ‘greater force’ refers to superior/greater force, or to an unexpected or uncontrollable event, such as ‘an act of God’ like a typhoon or earthquake. It’s pronounced as [fawrss ma-zhur].

‘Gauche.’  If you describe someone as gauche, you mean that they are awkward and uncomfortable in the company of other people. ‘We're all a bit gauche when we're young.’ ‘She was a rather gauche, provincial creature.’ It’s pronounced as [gōsh].

‘Haute cuisine’ means  ‘high cuisine.’ High-class, fancy, (and expensive) cooking or food. It’s pronounced as [ot kwi zeen].

‘Idée fixe’ means  ‘set idea.’ Fixation, obsession. It’s pronounced as [ee dày feeks]; its plural idées fixes, [ee dày feeks].

‘Je ne sais quoi’ means  ‘I don't know what.’ Used to indicate a ‘certain something,’ as in ‘I really like Aljur. He has a certain je ne sais quoi that I find very appealing.’ It’s pronounced as [zhö nə say kwaa].

‘Laissez-faire’ means  ‘let it be.’ A policy of non-interference. Note the expression in French is ‘laisser-faire.’ It’s pronounced as [lè say fér] or [ lè zay fér].

‘Mot juste’ means  ‘right word.’ Exactly the right word or expression. It’s important. For one, good writing needs good diction. And being wordy sometimes is not good. It’s pronounced as mot juste [mo zhoost].

‘Nouvelle cuisine’ means ‘new cuisine.’ Cooking style developed in the 1960's and 70's that emphasised lightness and freshness. It’s pronounced as [noo vèl kwi zeen] or [noo vèl kwee zeen]. On TV these days, we can see a lot of nouvelle cuisine promoted by different companies, say, tuna companies and seasoning companies. I love the food prepared by ABS-CBN’s Junior Masterchief. The kids here are good at making nouvelle cuisine, which seems outlandish to my fancy.

‘Oh là là’   means ‘oh dear.’ Usually misspelled and mispronounced ‘ooh la la’ in English. It sounds hilarious at first time you hear it.

‘Prêt-à-porter’ means ‘ready to wear.’ Originally referred to clothing which is manufactured in standard sizes ready to be bought off the rack, now sometimes used for food. It’s pronounced as [prèt aa pawr táy]. These days, things are prêt-à-porter. It’s not ‘instant’ as most of us would mean that ‘instant’ is prêt-à-porter.

‘Rouge’ means ‘red.’ The English refers to a reddish cosmetic or metal/glass-polishing powder, and can be a noun or a verb. If a woman or an actor rouges their cheeks or lips, they put red powder or cream on them to give them more colour. ‘Florentine women rouged their earlobes.’ ‘She had curly black hair and rouged cheeks.’

‘Tableau vivant’ means ‘living picture.’ A scene made up of silent, motionless artistes. It’s pronounced as [tábblō vee van] or [ta blṓ vee van]. Its plural ‘tableaux vivants,’ [tábblō vee van, ta blṓ vee van].

My 100 Favourite English Words

Ailurophile A cat-lover.
Assemblage A gathering.
Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cosy cottage.
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Comely Attractive.
Conflate To blend together.
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved.
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude Disuse.
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous Filmy.
Dissemble Deceive.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient A softener.
Ephemeral Short-lived.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative Suggestive.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious Fleeting.
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue To infuse, instill.
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Inglenook A cosy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.
Inure To become jaded.
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.
Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.
Languor Listlessness, inactivity.
Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
Leisure Free time.
Lilt To move musically or lively.
Lissome Slender and graceful.
Lithe Slender and flexible.
Love Deep affection.
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
Moiety One of two equal parts.
Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
Murmurous Murmuring.
Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.
Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.
Panacea A solution for all problems
Panoply A complete set.
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
Penumbra A half-shadow.
Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
Phantasmagorical Very strange, like something in a dream.
Plethora A large quantity.
Propinquity Proximity; Nearness
Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.
Quintessential Most essential.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Ravel To knit or unknit.
Redolent Fragrant.
Riparian By the bank of a stream.
Ripple A very small wave.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
Sempiternal Eternal.
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
Talisman A good luck charm.
Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.
Vestigial In trace amounts.
Wafture Waving.
Wherewithal The means.
Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.

Prayer

a poem by Roger B Rueda

Let my body be submerged in the volley 

in a cavernous,

sodden logs,

under the deep drizzling bosom

of soil shaken by quakes

where once

a twisted tree hoisted -

and paint an image

on my sepulchre

with mud and piece of limb

of a lass and a lad

underneath a rotund drum dish

in the skies

eating of affection

with a keen serve

and pledging

an enthusiastic promise -

and do not keep

my patch sheared even

and fresh as a bedstead

of someone spoken for,

but let the wildflower,

the floret, the sapling,

violent, fecund, bare,

and at large,  grow high above my pate.

The Depth of Earthquakes

a poem by Roger B Rueda

to the Great Queries,

has served as an epiphany.

I lie on my back

under the stars

and the invisible galaxies

and let their enormity wash

over me.

I blend in the immensity

of the spaces,

the incorporeity.

I go all the way out

and then I go

all the way down,

to the fact of photons

without mass

and gauge bosons

that grow into massless

at high heats.

I take in the thoughts

about powers and equilibriums

and they stroke me,

like mantras,

the sense of the words

not mattering –

the words are so poignant.

On Atheism

an essay by Roger B Rueda

Never can I be an atheist anymore, I think. I got this thinking while watching Bottomline on ABS-CBN. Well, perhaps, I’ve become mature now, for then there was nothing I could do about many things - I’d just have to put them down to experience.

I now live my life, recognising my magical existence, trying to be glad for the dreamlike life about me, so I’ve plumped for committing myself to the mystical pathway, and I think I’ve managed to grow: having arrived, I look backwards, remember the beginning of my journey, and laugh at myself.

God uses lonesomeness to teach me about living together. Every so often he uses antagonism so that I can understand the immeasurable importance of peace.

At other times he uses boredom, when he wants to show me the importance of undertaking and leaving things behind.

God uses quietness to teach me about the restraint of what I say. At times he uses lassitude so that I can understand the value of waking up. At other times he uses illness to show me the importance of wellbeing.

And now and then he uses death when he wants to show me the importance of life.

God has remained elusive for me even how much I tried to know what his design is for all of us. So, to define him I just believe that he is elusive because he is. His ways are only his – he is a god of random. He is a god of subtlety, of irony perhaps. He is a god of balance. He balances everything and his love for us despite our inadequacy: that’s why he can’t just start all over again creating another perfect creation. His love is patient, compassionate, and enduring. God is not a god of one part but of everything: his blessings and floggings are given to us based on what makes him a true god and not who he is not, all together. Everything is based on his perspective and not ours no matter how logical we are.

For me, deciding to be an atheist is like committing suicide as early as the death here on earth and the life in heaven. Atheism is stupidity - lack of wisdom, I'm afraid. Robot-like, an atheist has no depth and transcendent perspective.

Life is poetry itself. Reading life as a poem is a challenge, but like so many other things, it takes practice, and your skills and insight improve as you progress.

That’s why we cannot make someone love us - all we can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them. No matter how much we care, some people just don’t care back. It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it. We can get by on charm, for about fifteen minutes. After that, we’d better know something. Either we control our arrogance or it controls us. No matter how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion dwindles and there had better be something else to take its place.

Then, from time to time the people we expect to kick us when we’re downhill are the ones to help us get back up. Sometimes when we’re angry we have the right to be angry. True friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love. Just because someone doesn’t love you the way we want them to doesn’t mean that they don’t love us with all they have. Maturity had more to do with what types of experiences we’ve had and what we’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays we’ve celebrated.

Other things, our family won’t always be there for us. No matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt us every occasionally. It isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others - every so often we have to forgive ourselves. No matter how bad our heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop for our misery.

Our upbringing and conditions may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become. Just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just since they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

The last I have observed are we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change. Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something perfectly different. Our life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know us.

Life like poems speaks to us in many ways. Every day, we find a sense of discovery, of surprise. The same is true of poems. The most magical and wonderful poems are ever renewing themselves, which is to say they remain ever mysterious.

As believers of God, we need to grasp, to connect, to understand. Some magic, some satisfaction, some ‘ahhh!’ is one of the rewards of believing the magic, irony, and ambiguity of God in this beautiful poem of his I call ‘life.’

We need to shape our thoughts through this magic in our midst. We need to see simple details that can have meaning beyond furnishing a world.