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6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know

dailywritingtips.com — Expressions like "status quo" or "vis-a-vis" are all over the media. Do you know what they mean or how to use them? If not, check this out.

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  • PoptartKing, on 10/11/2007, -14/+6seeing as they didn't provide the literal meanings for the latin phrases I will.
    de facto - from or about the deed (literally the thing done or made)
    status quo - the state in which
    per se - through itself
    ad hoc - to this
    • envec, on 10/11/2007, -4/+19are you sure about that?

      per se should be "by itself", where are you getting your definitions from?

      also, the literal meaning of those expressions offer no value since they make no sense, better to deal with the "de facto" meanings
    • PoptartKing, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"per" is a latin preposition with a couple meanings depending on its phrase. In "per se" the word "se" is meant to mean the agent of an action, and in that context "per" can be translated into English as "through" or "by means of." The word "se" is a reflexive pronoun along the lines of English "him/her/itself."
      I'm getting this from five years of latin classes.

      also it's pretty depressing that someone could go from the latin language to the movie American Pie.
  • faithhealer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16These are pretty basic "newspaper reader" level literacy expressions. Two of them might not be obvious how to pronounce:

    Vis-à-Vis -- pronounced "Vee-zah-vee"
    Per se -- pronounced "Per say" (I've heard people, who have not seen this written, pronounce it "fer say")
    • Flashman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18This is a nice list. It has a certain je ne sais quoi. But I'm getting de ja vu - has this been on Digg before? I suppose the front page simply reflects the zeitgeist.
    • jasoninoakland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Call me a spelling Nazi, but I wish people would realize "per se" is a Latin term and not an English one, so it's not "per say" (I see it written like that about 80% of the time).
    • faithhealer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@1randomguy: Vis-à-Vis is from French, not Latin.

      @jasoninoakland: Wishing people would spell correctly does not make you a "spelling Nazi," IMO.
  • Buttercup, on 10/11/2007, -23/+3As I stroll through the corridors, I glance upon the article. It tells me it contains "Foreign Expressions" that I should know. but as I look through the poorly designed site, I wonder "who cares?"
    • wes00mertes, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Poorly designed site doesn't mean poor quality. Plus, your poetic way of saying "I don't like how this site looks so I won't read the article" isn't impressing anyone.
  • zykt0n, on 10/11/2007, -2/+20doesn't everyone know these phrases already?
    • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -0/+14Yeah, I learned them all from The Matrix: Reloaded.
    • wes00mertes, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8They are common, but not everyone knows them or knows how to use them correctly.

      Good article.
  • Sneakernets, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22These are about as foreign as Ramen noodles. (READ: not at all)
  • MortimerTempest, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0I bet Steve Jobs knows them!
  • bareborn, on 10/11/2007, -16/+1screw foreigners they can learn MY expressions this is MY country
  • rmeddy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I use all of them out of context to make myself feel smart. sigh
  • Audscias, on 10/11/2007, -5/+24. Cul-de-sac

    This expression was originated in England by French-speaking aristocrats. Literally it means “bottom of a sack,” but generally it refers to a dead-end street. Cul-de-sac can also be used metaphorically to express an action that leads to nowhere or an impasse.

    This is Catalan, nor french or english
    • rauz, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Got a source? I took french for six years and the words are french (i.e. can be found in a french dictionary), not sure where the expression originated.
    • matu4251, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4ok.. then what does it mean in catalan? Cause I'm french is this is totally french, and not old french or anything it's still part of every day language: cul = ass, de = of, sac = bag
    • WaterDragon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Cool! I always like to speak Catalan...every Caturday.
  • mikefitz2, on 10/11/2007, -20/+2***** you, either speak American or go away.
    • piece, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5i always thought it was "english"
    • mikev, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Hey, we are speaking "American" right now.

      :|
    • resplence, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Wow, wasn't it supposed to be a joke, guys? Like saying 'I speak 'African''.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1If you want to speak American, it better be Cherokee, or Navajo, or Kree, or ....or else you are just another one of the damn invaders and occupiers!
  • egroeggnik, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5Buried as lame. If you don't already know these by the time you start high school, there
    s not a whole lot of help for you.
  • lansuggs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Here's an important couple from Latin they left out:

    i.e. - "id est" meaning "that is". Reiterating to better explain.
    e.g. - "exempli gratia" meaning "for example". Using examples to better explain.

    They're not really expressions per se, but people get those confused all the time.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1yeah yeah i.e., and all the expressions like e..g., et cetera., etc.
      But WTF.does this have to do with Internet Explorer?
  • johanm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11as far as foreign expression goes, the one thin everyone should know is "he was already dead when i found him" in as many languages as possible
    ad hoc and per se wont really do the trick in every situation...
  • ElRayQuieres, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10Foreign expressions? From all those Latin speaking countries I presume?
    • pyry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Yeah, romance-language-speaking countries are, of course, the center of the universe. Next to New York.
    • polybot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4These will come in handy when I go on holiday to ancient Rome.
  • dsbmac, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0They forgot:

    Voulez-vous couchez avec moi...ce soir?
  • dsbmac, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0They forgot: Voulez-vous couchez avec moi...ce soir?
  • sandiegojoe, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I've always had a hard time when someone give two choices in a sentence and refers to one as the "former" and one as the "latter." ie: "Given the choice between turning left or right, I choose the latter" would that be "Right" or "left"? which one is former and which is the latter???
    • bhowell, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Former is the first one listed (comes before), latter is the second one listed (comes later).

      (btw since this is an article about foreign expressions, you should have used "e.g." = "for example" instead of "i.e." = "that is")
    • iwantamonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2former is the first one, latter is the last
    • WaterDragon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Given a choice between scaling the wall and staying on the ground, I choose the ladder!
  • tarkam, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2And I thought I was smart by thinking that Ad Hoc was a private (or public) personal wireless network.
  • pyry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Screw these foreign phrases, I've got one everyone should know: "Perkele!"
  • philba, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3This should have been titled: 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know if You Have a 9th Grade Education.

    I'm constantly amazed at the low bar for some internet articles...
  • simplejoe79, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1not a very informative list of expressions as all of them are pretty known...but still a nice effort....
  • timbo1138, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I knew what they all meant, and I use them regularly.


    Yay me.
  • Charginmahlazer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Digg is just this big place where all the ***** that think they're smart and witty take immature jabs at those who give their opinions, even if they give their opinions in a grammatically error free way. It usually works along these lines: Someone makes a comment, then another person trys to out do them by questioning their entire basis for the comment and then making some undermining comment in order to make the original poster feel sad. Anything can and will be said without consideration or remorse because it's the Internet and it takes no nerve whatsoever to post something in plain text to someone, rather than have to say it in person.

    It's like listening to that person everyone meets at some point in their life that thinks they're incredibly smart and takes the time to point out flaws and makes corrections often. Digg is kind of like listening to that person a lot more often than you ever did or ever wanted to. It's similar to reading Youtube comments. Well, Digg, I've had a good time while I was here, but, no more comments for me for a while.
    • pyry, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's what people do when they don't want to comment on the content of the something, and yeah it is pretty sad. Just about anyone can complain about someone's spelling or grammar, but not everyone has something to say in response to what they're saying.

      I'm tired of the grammar bitching too, having been indoctrinated by some basic ideas in linguistics. Also, it's the internet(s), how do you know if someone's not a second-language speaker of English? Is it just as okay to insult someone for bad grammar if they're a non-native speaker? Maybe they want corrections, but still...
  • donotdigg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Never order 'Cream of sum yung gai' in a Chinese restaurant.. it's not really chicken.

    /is asian
  •  

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