How to Sound Smart Using French Words in English (When Really, You’re Just Lazy!)

The Dinner Party Trick

Imagine this: you’re at a dinner party in New York or London. The conversation is flowing, the wine is pouring, and someone leans back in their chair to say:“Honestly, the film was just so… banal.”

Silence. Nods. Suddenly they sound sophisticated. Why? Because they used a French word. Never mind that “banal” exists in English too — it just feels fancier when you roll it off the tongue with a French accent.

This is the kind of example I love to share with students. Whether you are following one of my English courses with CPF or learning with me online, playing with words like these makes English more memorable.

Pop Culture Loves It Too

This isn’t just for dinner parties. Ever watched Frasier? The 1990s sitcom (and the recent reboot) loved sprinkling French into English conversations.

• “Oh, how très drôle!” (instead of just saying “funny”).

• “It all seemed so déjà vu.”Frasier and his brother Niles weren’t just characters — they were walking dictionaries of pretentious French borrowings.

And it worked. The audience laughed, but also believed these characters were clever. French = intelligence, right?

In my private lessons in English, I often use cultural references like these to show how language is not just grammar — it’s performance, identity, and sometimes comedy.

Lazy or Clever?

Here’s the truth: dropping French words into English is often less about genius and more about convenience. Instead of saying:

• “ordinary” → we say banal

• “tired of it” → we say blasé

• “fitting” → we say à propos

It’s not that the English language doesn’t have options. It’s just that sprinkling in French is a shortcut. A lazy one. But hey, it works.

This is exactly the kind of nuance I like to explore in my English courses in Vincennes — it shows how words travel and why English can feel familiar to French speakers.

A Mini Dictionary of French Words in English

Here are some of the “fancy” French words you’ll often hear in English:

• banal → ordinary, boring

• blasé → unimpressed, tired of something

• à propos → appropriate, fitting

• déjà vu → the feeling you’ve already experienced something

• cliché → an overused phrase or idea

• droll (from drôle) → funny in an odd way

• faux pas → a social mistake

• rendezvous → a meeting

👉 Notice: some are used exactly as in French (déjà vu, rendezvous), while others have shifted meaning (droll is not exactly the same as drôle).

Your Turn: Quick Activity 🎯

Match the French word to the English situation.

1. You arrive late to an important meeting without warning. That’s a…

2. The conversation feels familiar, like you’ve already had it before. That’s…

3. The movie was supposed to be exciting, but it was just ordinary. That’s…

4. You’ve had so much fine dining that you no longer care. You’re feeling…

5. He told a story that was strange but funny. It was…

(Answers below — but don’t cheat!)

Answers:

1. faux pas

2. déjà vu

3. banal

4. blasé

5. droll

Final Thought

Using French words in English doesn’t always make you smarter. Sometimes it just makes you sound like you’re auditioning for a new season of Frasier.

But here’s the fun twist: the English language is full of French already. So go ahead — say banal or drôle. You’re not just being lazy. You’re exploring the centuries-old love affair between English and French.

And if you’re curious to go further, whether through E-learning, an English course with CPF in Vincennes, or directly with me as your English teacher in Vincennes, you’ll see that these connections between the two languages make learning both fun and practical.