french phrases for scenesters

want to appear to know more than you do? want to impress collegeaus, friends, family & fellow coffeehouse posers?

then these french phrases are just for you.

lesson #1 - the art set
so, picture this:

you are invented to attend a gallery opening, peruse a friend's "sculptures", are caught reading your boyfriend/girlfriend's journal...basically you are asked to comment on something you could give a shit about.

here's what you do.

point to some obscure part of the art at hand, and say "this is the pièce de résistance of the entire work". (peace day resistAHnce - molly phonetics, not real-if you want real, go home). it literally means "the best feature"-but by using your new french accent & trendy lingo, it doesn't really matter AT ALL what you say, just the flair with which you say it.

lesson #2 - politiks
you are at a dinner, you are at the gym, you are having cocktails with bourgeouise friends, and some topic related to politics surfaces like an oil spill in alaska. you don't know what they're talking about, but you KNOW they are conservative. the conversation focuses on you...everyone is staring...you have to say something...pull out your scenester french, and you will be everyone's fav political guru.

"well, it's "x's" (society, media, fill-in-the-blank) obvious laissez-faire attitude that is creating this situation".
(lay-say fair)-meaning? having a lenient or indulgent policy toward the actions of others (letting them do whatever they want). so again, this is only to be used with conservatives...or creatively with liberals.

another one that could work here is coup de grâce (coo-de-grA). it means "final blow, finishing strike". used in a sentence...

"i always thought this was a neo-nazi conservative country...but the coup de grâce was when that guy was elected president for a second term."

lesson #3-everyday uses
so here a few bits & bobs to spice up your normal boring conversations...to be used sparingly...don't overdo it, then it will be obnoxiously obvious you got this from a blog, which is a total scenester taboo.

regarding anyone you are talking about behind their back
*je ne sais quoi (je ne say qua...whatever, that looks just like the word, but other than that random "s" on the 3rd word, this one is kind of phonetic, sorry)..."an indescribable feeling or inexpressible something"...this can be good or bad, depends on the context.

*savoir-faire (sav-wa fair) - "know-how" is the real people meaning of this (a compliment)

regarding yourself or describing something your pov (point-of-view)
*raison d'être (rais-on (but really light on that "n" or you sound like you are from the country) day terr)..."reason for being"-good one, use it all the time.

*fait accompli (fay accompli)...done deal, nothing to be done about it now...i guess i tend to lean toward the dark side of french phrases, the ones about "final striking blows", etc...(go figure)

*force majeure (force ma-jor-eh)..."irrestible force or overwhelming power"-no reason, i just really like that one.

ok, enough "conversation stunnahs".

impress your friends. get something good out of it.

you scenester, you...

et voila!