# Favourite foreign phrases



## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

As an extremely sophisticated worldly wize person...
(LOL, understatement is key in all one does in life)
I was wondering what non-english phrases make their way into you conversation on a regular basis. 

Here are a few of mine:

"Ne plus ultre"

"Bien sur, nous sommes civilisee!"

"Va fa" (I'm not sure how to spell this. I first learnt the phrase as something to say to those rude gypsie pan-handlers in Rome. It is a phrase I greet and am greeted with by my old Italian barber. "Va fa, Fausto" "Va fa, Marco" followed by much laughter.

Edited because I just can't spell.

Your contributions


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## ashie259 (Aug 25, 2005)

Increasingly, I find myself peppering my conversation with _Ik begrijp er geen zak van _ and _no tengo ni puta idea_.

As I've said elsewhere, I think it's an IQ issue.


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## Curator (Aug 4, 2005)

Not really a phrase, but I'm working on calling my current year a _wanderjahr_ without sounding arrogant. It's proving difficult

mpcsb, the va fa you're talking about is short for "vaffanculo," translation impossible in polite company, but if you're curious, check this link:

I guess the abbreviation would be "Vaffa!"

-----------------------------------
"It is an old trick. The playgoer who does not like dirty plays is denounced as a prude; the music-lover who resents cacophony is told he is a pedant; and in all these matters the final crushing blow administered to the man of discrimination is the ascription to him of a hidebound prejudice against things that are new because they are new." -Royal Cortissoz


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

Curator,
Thanks for the great link. Because "Vaffa" (I'll use your spelling) is so rude and cannot be said in polite society is what makes it so funny. Granted my Italian barber runs a very traditional men's barber shop so cursing is not to be unexpected, but it is some what rare. I'm sure that Fausto, like me, would never say that phrase in front of a lady, a child, or a policeman!
Cheers


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

"Vox clammatis in deserto"


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## manicturncoat (Oct 4, 2004)

If you don't want to say "Vaffa" you can mimic it with a simple gesture. Make a fist, stick your arm out and grip your other hand around the middle of your forearm, for extra emphasis twist your fist repeatedly.


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## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

"Sine timore Achilles armatus." (And I wish to hell I knew the source of that one.)

Kav, that's properly "vox clamantis in deserto."


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Gents,

In Prague if you can say "Pivo, prosim." you will be a happy man indeed.

Karl


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## Gong Tao Jai (Jul 7, 2005)

Mai pen rai.


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

En media felicitas est.

(I may have gotten a few of the words wrong or in the wrong order. If there is someone more fluent in Latin, please correct me).


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

Ad triarios redisse - To the third line - A Roman military term which means things have reached a desperate situation. The third line was the most veteran and experienced soldiers. If the enemy got to that point...

Dennis
If you wish to control the future, then create it.
Est unusquisque faber ipsae suae fortunae


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## cufflink44 (Oct 31, 2005)

Trot this out in Tehran if the circumstances warrant:

Boro khodet-o bokon.
_Proceed to perform an anatomical impossibility on your person._

In a more decorous vein:

Hei mao bai mao
_Black cat, white cat_

(From Deng Xiaoping's famous quote, "It makes no difference if the cat is black or white as long as it can catch mice.")

https://www.cafepress.com/occidentorient/1060685

Hallekh b'darekhei libbekha.
_Walk in the ways of thy heart. [Eccl. 11:9]_

A mentsh trakht un got lakht.
_Man plans and God laughs._

----------------------------------------------------------
Ah, Love! could you and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits--and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

Fitzgerald, _Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam_, 2nd ed.:CVIII


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## Vladimir Berkov (Apr 19, 2005)

Mon bon homme.


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## Rich (Jul 10, 2005)

Et in Arcadia ego.


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

I use a couple of phrases that english lacks

"tikka" - is a word in use in india that simply has no good translation, and is hugly useful. 

"dafka" is a word in hebrew that has no real translation - if means "to do in order to spite something or someone"

"khalas" is a word in arabic that means "stop" or "enough", but is a very good word.


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## RJman (Nov 11, 2003)

> quote:_Originally posted by globetrotter_
> 
> I use a couple of phrases that english lacks
> 
> ...


Khalas is actually very similar to the Indian word. I thought tikka is just spicy, no?

A favorite foreign phrase is from Voltaire:

_O che sciagura d'essere senza coglioni!_

Another is from Betelgeusian: Goosnargh

*************
RJman. Accept no imitations.


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## Curator (Aug 4, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Rich_
> 
> Et in Arcadia ego.


I approve:










-----------------------------------
"It is an old trick. The playgoer who does not like dirty plays is denounced as a prude; the music-lover who resents cacophony is told he is a pedant; and in all these matters the final crushing blow administered to the man of discrimination is the ascription to him of a hidebound prejudice against things that are new because they are new." -Royal Cortissoz


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by RJman_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


tikka is sort of like "ok", but it implies a reluctance in the agreement, sort of. maybe I am not writing it, it isn't the "tikka masala" type of "tikka" it is a flatter, longer sound. and I honestly don't know where it comes from, for all I know it was adapted from an english word.


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## EL72 (May 25, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by globetrotter_
> 
> "*dafka"* is a word in hebrew that has no real translation - if means "to do in order to spite something or someone"


Good ones globetrotter. I use dafka a lot because there is no good English (or French) equivalent.

I also say NU! when waiting impatiently for something.

I prefer maspik to khalas (usually when my son is getting on my nerves).

I sometimes use other words like zeitgeist, gestalt and weltanschauung... because they convey ideas not easily conveyed in English with a single word.

If I am driving in traffic, I use a mixture of french, hebrew, arabic and english curse phrases that I don't think I can reproduce.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

faux pas
ai, que barbaridad
ciao
ergo
ipso facto
no me gusta

since law school, the Latin I've learned has fallen into more frequent use since reading all of those cases..it's almost involuntary the way it slips into one's lexicon

caveat, caveat emptor, sua sponte are winners

various German or pseudo-German phrases from my Swiss-German paternal heritage have found their way in too, mostly from my grandfather

dumkopf (spelling is wrong, I'm sure)...frequently shouted at offending motorists, learned from grandfather and dad

kanuff (pr. kan-oof)- the end of the bread loaf that nobody wants to eat

kaduffle-mashed potatoes

EDIT (sorry Malinda): also "streitzel" which appears to apply to most cakes like coffee cake

all of these are negligible in accuracy but they've been passed down


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

_Dulce et decorumst pro patria mori_ (It is sweet and right to die for your country), by Horace (not the Ask Andy member, but the older one), from his ode:

Angustam amice pauperiem pati
Robustus acri militia puer
Condiscat et Parthos ferocis
Vexet eques metuendus hasta,

Vitamque sub divo et trepidis agat 
In rebus. Illum ex moenibus hosticis
Matrona bellantis tyranni
Prospiciens et adulta virgo

Suspiret, eheu, ne rudis agminum
Sponsus lacessat regius asperum 
Tactu leonem, quem cruenta
Per medias rapit ira caedes.

Dulce et decorumst pro patria mori:
Mors et fugacem persequitur virum,
Nec parcit imbellis iuventae 
Poplitibus timidoque tergo.

Virtus repulsae nescia sordidae,
Intaminatis fulget honoribus,
Nec sumit aut ponit securis
Arbitrio popularis aurae.

Virtus recludens immeritis mori
Caelum negata temptat iter via,
Coetusque volgaris et udam
Spernit humum fugiente penna.

Est et fideli tuta silentio 
Merces: vetabo qui Cereris sacrum
Volgarit arcanae sub isdem
Sit trabibus fragilemve mecum

Solvat phaselon; saepe Diespiter
Neglectus incesto addidit integrum: 
Raro antecedentem scelestum
Deseruit pede Poena claudo.

Translation: (by John Conington, _Oxon_.)

_To suffer hardness with good cheer, 
In sternest school of warfare bred, 
Our youth should learn; let steed and spear 
Make him one day the Parthian's dread; 
Cold skies, keen perils, brace his life. 
Methinks I see from rampined town 
Some battling tyrant's matron wife, 
Some maiden, look in terror down,-- 
"Ah, my dear lord, untrain'd in war! 
O tempt not the infuriate mood 
Of that fell lion! see! from far 
He plunges through a tide of blood!" 
What joy, for fatherland to die! 
Death's darts e'en flying feet o'ertake, 
Nor spare a recreant chivalry, 
A back that cowers, or loins that quake. 
True Virtue never knows defeat: 
HER robes she keeps unsullied still, 
Nor takes, nor quits, HER curule seat 
To please a people's veering will. 
True Virtue opens heaven to worth: 
She makes the way she does not find: 
The vulgar crowd, the humid earth, 
Her soaring pinion leaves behind. 
Seal'd lips have blessings sure to come: 
Who drags Eleusis' rite to day, 
That man shall never share my home, 
Or join my voyage: roofs give way 
And boats are wreck'd: true men and thieves 
Neglected Justice oft confounds: 
Though Vengeance halt, she seldom leaves 
The wretch whose flying steps she hounds. _

Later used by poet Wilfred Owen during the Great War:

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: _Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori._

_8 October 1917 - March, 1918_


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## AMVanquish (May 24, 2005)

Au jus?


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## upstarter (Dec 3, 2005)

Pan Metron Ariston.

Everything in moderation.

Anceint Greek

Upstarter


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## Nantucket Red (Jan 26, 2006)

German:

schadenfreude

Latin:

Quidquid lingua Latina dictum sit, videtur altus.
(Anything said in Latin sounds profound.)

Infra dignitatem.
(It is beneath my dignity.)

Patior ut potiar.
(I suffer that I may gain strength.)
(Family motto)

Japanese:

Baka wa shinanakya, naoranai.
(Only death can cure a fool.)

Buta ni shinju.
(Pearls before swine.)

Kashimashii (the Chinese character is composedof the character for "woman" (Ââ€”) stacked one above two: Å Â­â€šÂµâ€šÂ¢)
(Chattering noisily.)

-------------------------------------------------
God gave us women; the Devil gave them corsets.
- French proverb


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

Auf wiederleuge, Swiss German for auf wieder sehen. Shortend version:
wieder luerge, with just a slight pronounciation of the r. 

The pronounciation varies from place to place.

I also sometimes use the Swiss version of "good afternoon," which sounded to me the first time I heard it (on a trail in the Bernese Oberland) like "good job." Phonetically it can be written "Goete Ahrbiek."

Tschuess,
Gurdon


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

Malesh-it doesn't matter 

Buss-enough


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## manicturncoat (Oct 4, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Curator_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You are a fan of Poussin, Guercino & Van Ruiysdael?


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

In any language "My friend will pay" used while pointing to a stranger!


Andy


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## jeansguy (Jul 29, 2003)

Donde este el banyo?!!!!

For laughs run into a spanish restaurant, holding your groin and reading this out of a "learn to speak spanish book"



www.thegenuineman.com


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

Undergrad humor, twenty-five years ago:

"C'est la vie."

"La vie."


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## upstarter (Dec 3, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by manicturncoat_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


AS DO I. My father's side is actually from Arcadia, specifically the village of Stemnitsa (or Hypsous if you're a fan of Pausanias). It is consistantly voted one of the best villages in Greece, and i will actually be there around August for a couple of weeks. All that needs to be said is that it's breathtaking

Here's another one:

Stemnitsotis eme!

-untranslatable to get the full effect. sorry...

Upstarter


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## J. Homely (Feb 7, 2006)

In flagrante delicto.


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## [email protected] (Jan 12, 2005)

"xin chao cac ban"

its vietnamese for 'hello my many friends' - i have a habit of saying it to big groups of people who stare at me because i am, like, all white and stuff (they are a nation of gawkers)

always breaks the ice...


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## rudiddy (Aug 10, 2005)

*Sursum Corda*: _(Latin)_ Lift up your hearts.

*Namaste*: _(Hindi)_ I humbly bow to you. In a religious context this is an acknowledgement of the Spirit that exists within you.

*Cogito ergo doleo*: _(Latin)_ I think, therefore I am depressed.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

*L'abito non fa il monaco.*

Literal: The habit does not make the monk


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## Tomasso (Aug 17, 2005)

C'est la vie


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

One of my closest friends, who used to work in a bank with me (a very multi-cultural place), always made an effort to learn the following phrase in whatever language was spoken by the new hires: "It was like that when I got here". His reasoning was that if he was travelling in other countries it would be the most useful phrase to offer the police when they started their investigation.

DD

PS: Useless trivia fans will note that the phrase was originally uttered by Homer Simpson in one of his many, many attempts to avoid responsibility for his mistakes.


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## rach2jlc (Jan 18, 2005)

Nantucket Red,

Another Japanese saying that I like that is close to the one you posted is:

"Baka ni tsukeru kusuri ga nashi"
There is no medicine to cure a fool.

One of my favorite incredibly cryptic Japanese Zen sayings that I don't think I understand at all is:
"kokoro towa ika narumono wo iiunaran sumie ni kakishi matsukaze no oto"
A rough translation of which is "the heart is the sound of the pine breeze in the ink painting"




John


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## cufflink44 (Oct 31, 2005)

I donâ€™t remember where I heard this, but itâ€™s supposed to be a true story:

A man traveling on business somewhere in the U.S. was having a meal in a modest restaurant. When the young waitress came over to take his order, he asked her, looking at the menu, â€œWhatâ€™s the soup du jour?â€

She looked blankly at the customer and the menu listing and said, â€œUm . . . Iâ€™ll have to go ask the chef.â€

She disappeared and returned a moment later with the answer:

â€œThatâ€™s â€˜soup of the day.â€™â€


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All non-trivial zeroes of the zeta function have real part one-half. Or maybe not.


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## Yckmwia (Mar 29, 2005)

"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur"

"In vino veritas"



"If anyone kicks, it will be me, boy/And if anyone gets kicked, it will be you." Brecht.


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## bosthist (Apr 4, 2004)

Je parle francais comme une vache espagnole.


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## Frank aka The Minotaur (Nov 12, 2004)

Mine tend to run to the colorful...

Vafungool! (Va' fa'n culo)

Tu no oye, punyeta!


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## AZTEC (May 11, 2005)

*
I like veni, vidi, vici.

and occasionally: vidi, vici, veni.

AZTEC*

**************************************


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## Tomasso (Aug 17, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by AZTEC_
> 
> *
> I like veni, vidi, vici.
> ...


I first heard that from a classmate in Freshman Latin(197?).


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## rach2jlc (Jan 18, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by cufflink44_
> 
> I donâ€™t remember where I heard this, but itâ€™s supposed to be a true story:
> 
> ...


I believe that this was a bit in a Jim Carrey movie (Dumb & Dumber maybe???) where he is sitting at a diner and says "What's the soup du jour?" 
"It's the soup of the day," the waitress says.
"Yumm...I'll have that," Carrey replies.

(or something to that effect. WHile I'm ashamed to admit that I've seen this movie, I'm happy to admit that it was many years ago.)

John


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## Sam Hober (Jan 2, 2005)

Subhai Subhai

Thai for relax

David Hober

Custom Made/Bespoke Neckties, Pocket Squares & Scarves


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