500 Foreign Words and Phrases You Should Know to Sound Smart (20 page)

Exact words. Literally. Word for word.

In high school, my father had to know the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” VERBATIM. Not only that, he had to recite it in front of a school assembly. His eye still twitches when he remembers the experience
.

verboten
(German) (vare-BOHT-en) (adjective)

Forbidden.

Cheating on tests is strictly VERBOTEN
.

verklempt
(Yiddish) (vare-KLEMPT) (adjective)

Highly emotional.

I was VERKLEMPT at my daughter’s wedding when I saw her coming down the aisle in white
.

Veritas vincit
(Latin) (WARE-ee-tas WIN-kit) (phrase)

Truth conquers. It would be nice to believe in this, but political campaigns have a way of convincing us otherwise. Still, it’s nice to be optimistic, so if someone makes a particularly cynical comment to you, you can always toss this back at them.

As time goes by, it becomes clearer that in all things VERITAS VINCIT. Just because my lying sack of excrement of a husband is spreading rumors about me now doesn’t mean they’ll last forever
.

via dolorosa
(Latin) (WEE-ah dol-or-OH-sa) (noun)

The sorrowful way. Refers to Jesus’s journey to his crucifixion. Since the eighteenth century, Christians have claimed to know the route within the Old City of Jerusalem that Jesus walked. Today it is the site of much pilgrimage and includes nine Stations of the Cross. More generally, the term can be applied to any path filled with tribulation.

On his way to his calculus exam, Marcus felt as though he were walking the VIA DOLOROSA
.

videlicet
(Middle English by way of Latin) (WEE-day-LEE-kit) (adverb)

Namely.

The movie
Highlander
establishes that there can be only one immortal, VIDELICET Duncan MacLeod
.

vis-à-vis
(French) (VEEZ-ah-VEE) (preposition, noun, or adverb)

Literally, “face to face.” More generally, compared to.

I would certainly rather take an English literature course than something required, VIS-À-VIS math
.

Vita summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam
(Latin) (WEE-tah SOO-mah BREH-wis spem nos WAY-taht in-co-HAH-ray LONG-ahm) (phrase)

The brief span of life gives us little hope of longevity. Yet another depressing observation from the poet Horace (65
B.C.
–8
B.C.
), who must have been a big laugh at Roman parties. Still, this sort of thing fits into the general Roman cultural ethos of the first century
B.C.
, when poets were expected to declaim about the futility of human endeavor.

Vive la différence
(French) (VEEV lah dee-fay-RAHNS) (phrase)

Hooray for differences! Literally, “long live the difference.” Particularly applied to the two sexes, it implied pleasure in flirtation.

Benjamin Franklin’s view of women was definitely one of VIVE LA DIFFÉRENCE!

Nota Bene

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was, as is well known, a founding father of the United States and the wise elder statesman who kept negotiations over the Declaration of Independence from collapsing. He was also an incurable womanizer. By the age of twenty-four he had an illegitimate son, William, who later sided with the Tories during the American Revolution and was permanently estranged from his father.

volte-face
(French) (volt FAHSS) (noun)

About face. Make a change of directions, often in a policy.

Nixon’s trip to China signaled an abrupt VOLTE-FACE by the United States on its Chinese foreign policy. For years afterwards, people said, “Only Nixon could have gone to China.”

vorlage
(German) (fohr-LAHG-eh) (noun)

Literally, “forward leaning.” Generally refers the position of a skier who leans forward without lifting the heels from the skis.

Jean-Claude Killy had excellent VORLAGE during his Olympic competition
.

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi
(French) (VOO-lay voo koo-SHAY ah-vek MWAH) (phrase)

Would you sleep with me? Literally, “Do you want to go to bed with me?” Keep in mind that this question, when posed at the end of a date, always sounds better in French than in English.

Labelle’s hit “Lady Marmalade” contains the immortal question, “VOULEZ-VOUS COUCHER AVEC MOI?”

vox populi
(Latin) (woks POP-oo-lee) (noun)

Voice of the people. Sometimes referring to media interviews conducted with the “man on the street.” More generally, this refers to the idea of popular will.

Elections in this country are supposed to reflect the VOX POPULI, but—as we’ve seen in several recent elections—they very often don’t
.

“Language is wine upon the lips.”

—Virginia Woolf

W

Wanderjahr
(German) (VAHN-dare-yar) (noun)

Wandering year. A year in which an apprentice wanders or takes off in order to improve her or his skills.

After graduating from college, Fred decided to take a WANDERJAHR and travel around Europe in order to improve his language skills
.

Wanderlust
(German) (VAHN-dare-lust) (noun)

Desire to wander. Found in the traditions of German Romanticism, which stressed the rootless, restless character of literary heroes, this concept pervades a great deal of nineteenth-century German literature. Only the Germans could have come up with a single word for it.

Tatania was unable to settle down anywhere for very long because of her intense WANDERLUST
.

Weltanschauung
(German) (VELT-ahn-shahng) (noun)

A comprehensive, specific view of the world, often reflecting a fear or concern.

Aidan’s WELTANSCHAUUNG made it difficult for him to meet new people
.

Weltgeist
(German) (VELT-giyst) (noun)

World spirit. The motivating concept of the world. Something that is behind all the phenomena that we can perceive.

The Romantic poets believed that the WELTGEIST was Nature
.

Weltschmerz
(German) (VELT-shmertz) (noun)

World weariness. A sense of disillusionment with society, usually leading the hero to wander off. (See
Wanderjahr
.)

One of the main characteristics of the Byronic Hero is a pervasive WELTSCHMERZ
.

Wunderbar
(German) (VUN-dare-bahr) (adj.)

Wonderful! Excellent!

In German beer gardens, the patrons often shout WUNDERBAR!, particularly after hoisting a few steins
.

Wunderkind
(German) (VUN-dare-kint) (noun)

Wonder child, usually refers to a prodigy. Someone who achieves success at an early age or stands out from her or his contemporaries.

In computer circles, Bill Gates can be considered a WUNDERKIND, although the late Steve Jobs would probably have disputed that
.

“That woman speaks eight languages and can’t say no in any of them.”

—Dorothy Parker

Z

zaftig
(Yiddish, from German) (ZAF-tig) (adjective)

Full figured; plump. In some respects, this word conveys the suggestion of sexiness.

Anna Nicole Smith was extremely ZAFTIG—more so at some times than others
.

Zeitgeist
(German) (ZIYTE-giyst) (noun)

The general climate of any given era in time. Another one of those German words that have a precise philosophical meaning if you’re German and are completely confusing and frustrating if you’re not.

Phil Ochs’s protest songs exemplified the ZEITGEIST of the Vietnam War era
.

About the Authors

Dr. Linda Archer
received her MA in English from Bowling Green State University and her PhD in English literature from the University of Toledo. For more than twenty years, she has alternately inspired and terrified students by demanding that they read literature, talk about it, and even think about it intelligently. This has had, admittedly, mixed results, but on the whole she’s satisfied that she’s corrupted a few innocent minds along the way by making them read Byron’s poetry.

She lives in Wareham, Massachusetts, with her husband and two cats, who, if they had an ounce of conscience between them, would get up off the floor and catch bugs or something.

Peter Archer
received an MA from the University of Toledo and an MLitt from the University of St. Andrews. During a life that has seen its fair share of weird jobs (to give you an idea, he was at different times a pit clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a political activist and production editor for a left-wing newspaper in New York City), he’s acquired a reasonable vocabulary and a fund of anecdotes with which he bores the fur off the cats, since no one else will listen to them.

He lives in Wareham, Massachusetts, with his wife and the cats.

Copyright © 2012 by F+W Media, Inc.
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