Familiar French words

cliché - over used phrase, used so often that it no longer seems original but has become banal/everyday
déja vu - literally already seen, that uncanny feeling that you have seen a place of face before, or perhaps a plot in a play
en famille - in the family or with the family, for example, we will be staying en famille, not in a hotel
genre - field or area or division as in genre of books such as Sci Fi and Romance - two different genres
table d'hôte - fixed menu, literally table of the host. Not that the little hat indicates the missing letter s

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker

French Words of the Day: dilettante, genre, haute couture, repertoire, salon

dilettante - amateur who dithers between one activity and another
Genre - field - usually in writing publications such as romance, sci-fi, Westerns, adult, children's, textbooks, fiction
haute couture - high fashion
repertoire - list or range of pieces a person is able to perform
salon - room but unlike the nowadays rather seedy English or American saloon bar inhabited by drinkers, the salon was smart and chic, inhabited by the French