Great foreign language terms or phrases, so fun for a word-nerd like me:
1. Café con leche (nothing happens in my world without this ebony/ivory nectar of the morning)
2. Faux pas (thanks for reminding me, Janey, and no, I never commit zee faux pas. Well, maybe not more than once a day)
3. Sic semper tyrannis (Latin motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia: “thus always to tyrants.” Sticking it to the man, old school! Love that!)
4. Ménage a trois (if you don’t know, ask your mother, cause I ain’t splainin’ it)
5. Un poco loco (as in slightly cuckoo, nutty, or fruitcake-ish; bonus points for the rhyme)
6. Au contraire (fancy way of saying, “You are an idiot, and oh, so wrong”)
7. Contretemps (the snooty way to say: a row, a falling-out; “Melissa blithely threatened to pinch me when we had a contretemps about the quality of my writing”)
8. Mas tequila, por favor (always drink responsibly-- me, I stick to una cerveza—don’t want Bad Luck Detective slapping the dreaded pink cuffs on me)
9. Carpe diem (seize the day, gather your rosebuds, kiss your sweetie right now; this one’s for Desi, who already is a superb seizer of the day)
10. Amigas (who doesn’t need a few more of these? I’m proud to call Home Reared Chef mi amiga)
11. ¿Dónde está el cuarto de baño?; Ou est la salle de bain? (Arguably the most important phrase in any language; Karen Lynn, will you come with me? Ladies need backup for that trip.)
12. Chaise-longue (think I’ll go take a nap in one now, hi Oh Napper Deluxe, VV, aka Belle of the Carnival)
13. Antonio-Banderas-hubba-hubba (he needs no translation. Tonio appears in my creative visualizations happy place—make that a chaise-longue for two, please).
Are there words from languages, other than your own native tongue, that you enjoy using? If English is your second language, are there English words you find interesting, confusing, or amusing?
