What are your favorite words/expressions from foreign languages?

Schadenfreude is a great one.

My friends and I are bringing "pas devant" back - most people our generation know no French, so it's handy to use for its purpose without being obvious.

Comme ci comme ça

"Are you going?"

"Like, tout le monde will be there!"

Cest la vie!

Sub rosa.

Tabula rasa.

Mama, me las verga chinga pendejo.

Poo poo 💩

What's interesting is how many foreign phrases that end up in English aren't used in the original language that much. Comme ci, comme ça is a good example of that. And it works the other way too, where English words are used in other languages but in really different ways that we wouldn't use them.

Big cheese isn't grande Fromage

Gros Fromage, cinglé...

Que Sera Sera!

Weltschmerz.

L'hole presente

Il pleut comme vache qui pisse.

r12 wins!

Also: zeitgeist

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?

In the 1990s on the NYC subway we would passionately throw around the phrase “No Se Apoye Contra La Puerta!” Usually over emphasizing the “Contra” and using our hands in the manner of Italian fish wives!

Halt die Klappe!!

Verificatia sizêmeat!

Leave money on the stand of night.

I have to oui oui.

Est-qu’on a verifié la taille de la viande?

Tres bien R21!

Hat man die Fleischgrösse bestätigt?

German has one which really would be useful currently in the US and UK: Wutbürger.

Que pompis!

Chutiya!

Macht Nichts

or

Mox Nix

It makes no difference

¡Que lastima!

La plume de ma tante

Apropos of nothing.

R7, "Sacrebleu!" is another "French" expression that is never used in France. Perhaps it's still used in Quebec (?)

Mince!

You bloody kaffir!

Ringard!

Take this R16:

La via del tren subterreneo es peligrosa! Si el tren se para entre las estacciones, no salga afuera!!! Siga las instrucciones de los operadores del tren o la policia!

Au reservoir.

Je ne sais quoi

Mi profesor es un gato.

There are many Yiddish expressions which are not easily translated into English. Among the better ones:

Shlemeil/shlemazel - a loser and someone who always has bad luck -- the shlemiel knocks over the can of paint and it lands on the shlemazel [and yes, the first words of the sitcom theme song]

Ungepatchkeh-- overdone-- can refer to Trump's residence at Mar A Lago or Divine's clothing, hair and make-up.

Chutzpah-- in the US this has come to mean moxie, but in Israel it means unmitigated gall, the man who kills his parents and then tells the court to have pity on him because he is an orphan

Farbissineh -- a Debbie Downer, someone who is always sour and miserable and thrives on being sour and miserable [and yes, a character in Austin Powers]

La plume de ma tante

Loved your post R39, very interesting. As soon as I saw "farbissineh" I thought: "Oh! Like Frau Farbissina! That makes sense!".

So you all really like French language haha!

J'adore is mine, OP

Caca is mine r42.

[quote] Ungepatchkeh-- overdone-- can refer to Trump's residence at Mar A Lago or Divine's clothing, hair and make-up.

What about like a steak?

Why is everyone looking at me?

Fremdsprachen

Le mussy

La mussy

Les mussys

La mussy de ma tante

¡Ay papi, damelo fuerte!

Où est la pussé de Madame Slocombe?

"No Problema,"which should never be uttered in English, especially by retail workers and hospitality employees.

Druckmanschette.

Res ipsa loquitur. It’s amazing how often the phrase turns out to be applicable in everyday life.

R39, maybe it’s a generational thing or maybe it’s because I’m from the Northeast, but I still use chutzpah to mean unmitigated gall, and not in an admirable way. In my vernacular, it’s not a compliment. Do people use it as such now?

all the swear words.

R53, ipsa this, you pissy little bitch!

Bitte komm in mein jungfräuliches Arschloch, Daddy, ich möchte, dass ein kleiner Bruder für dich fickt.

Zut!

Me cago en la leche. It means "I shit in milk" in Spanish. I love the expression. And apparently, there are other variations like "I shit in your whore mother's milk", "I shit on your dead relatives.", the virgin Mary and even god.

Another is Pollas en Vinagre which means "Dicks in Vinegar".

Bellissimo

Fou toi!!!

When I was a teenager I used to think this meant fuck you in French. Now I don’t think it does.

Puta!

[quote]Ungepatchkeh

Ongepotchket, bubeleh.

I’ve heard “Au contraire” used here and there.

Also “Q.E.D.,” for Quod erat demonstrandum, meaning “That which was to have been shown.” Used in solving geometry problems, but I’ve also seen it used elsewhere.

Aiyaiyaiyaiyaiyai!!

Another vote for Schadenfreude!

No hay banda

Ne sprejemam kreditnih kartic ali čekov.

pas devant les domestiques

Fahrt lol. Everytime I go to Germany I laugh every time I see it, and its often! Ausfahrt, Einfahrt etc.

Maricon.

Ka mate! Ka ora!

Also 'Scheisse!'

Well you sound like a right Künstler, r69

Qui était cette cunte?

Hoder !

raison d'être

Rsvpeeee!

Fait accompli, weltschmerz (those Germans nailed it), I love saying arrivederci and arrivederla, as well as a drawn-out graaaaazie (though I think that is said among friends).

That said, I find that when I (used to) visit London, I'm never 100% confident in saying "Cheers" for thanks, and especially "mate."

Caio!

I like saying certain words, or making certain sounds, in Italian. Qualsiasi parole con "gli" o "gn_" sono buoni esempi. I love the word "ricevuto."

De trop. Pronounced tropp like Celeste Holm in All About Eve.

Gerchominochen

Il y a du monde au balcon.

"¡Ay, bendito!" which is an even more condescending "Bless his heart"

Quelle fromage!

Zut alors!

Ça va bien

Fa schifo!

Con mucho gusto!

Tacos pescado, por favor!

No mi mamo verga susia por mota.

Mocos

Madda fiya!

Madda ras!

Me no know.

Ooh, "fa schifo" is a good one, R84. I use that quite a bit. Or just "schifo, man!" as my Italian friends often say.

[quote]I love the word "ricevuto."

I like "ricevuto" also -- I say it in my head a lot.

Also "riscuotere."

Shiza

Mahu

Double entendre

Mein Gott!

Mensch.

Semper ubi sub ubi

“Mais a la fois”. French for “but at the same time”.

As in, she looked fabulous in that Chanel skirt “mais a la fois” her hair was a mess.

You will find it crawls into your daily verbiage more than you would think.