How do you pronounce the word macabre, meaning “morbid” or “gruesome”? The word may go back to the ancient Book of Maccabees, commemorated in medieval France with the danse de Macabré, often depicted in art as skeletons leading every type of person...
The French word for “now,” maintenant, goes back to Latin manu tenendo, which literally refers to the idea of holding something in one’s hand. Over time, that expression also came to mean something that is “at hand” or “immediate.” The English term...
To encourage diners to dig into a delicious meal, an Italian might say mangia!, a French person bon appetit! and Spaniard would say buen provecho. But English doesn’t seem to have its own phrase that does the job in quite the same way. This is part...
A native French speaker wants clarification about the use of the word precipice in English. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Precipice” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Philippe. Philippe, where are you calling us from...
The grip on a movie set is responsible for adjusting the lights, positioning and the camera, and ensuring safety. There are various picturesque explanations for this word’s origin, but the truth is likely quite simple: it comes from the French word...
The French have a musical term for paperclip. They call it le trombone. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Le Trombone” Grant, remember when we were talking about the French term for pie chart? Yeah, but I don’t remember what the...
