Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout Le Monde with Everyday French [Paperback]

Eugene Ehrlich (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0805058109 | ISBN-13: 978-0805058109 | Publication Date: September 15, 1998

Les Bons Mots will help you add the piece de resistance to any conversation.

Les Bons Mots is an eminently browsable reference that is designed to help English speakers use those witty and wise sayings for which the French are so justly famous. Eugene Ehrlich has created a reference work that defines French phrases and aphorisms both literally and colloquially; employs a unique and foolproof guide to their pronunciation; adds a brief and often amusing explanation that fixes each phrase in the reader's mind; and indexes everything so extensively that each idea is easy to find. An entertaining read as well as an impeccable reference guide by one of America's most cherished wordsmiths.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You may have taken French for Tourists, but what do you do when you're positive that guy just said "the mustard went up my nose"? Turn to page 170 of Les Bons Mots and you'll learn that he blew his cool. Written by word maven Eugene Ehrlich (author of The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate), this cleverly written guide to everyday, idiomatic French gives pronunciation, common translations, and brief discussions of over a thousand words and phrases, most of which you'll never see in a pocket phrasebook.

From à bas (down with) to zut alors (darn it!), you'll find oddly used words, figures of speech, and oft-quoted lines from French historical figures. Especially helpful for those of us who haven't spoken French since eighth grade is the pronunciation guide to the more difficult sounds for English speakers. A little study and practice with this fun book and you'll never hear "il écorche le français" again. (Or at least you'll know that it means "he murders the French language"!) --Rob Lightner

From School Library Journal

YA?The author of Amo, Amas, Amat (1987) and Veni, Vidi, Vici (1995, both HarperCollins), in which Ehrlich breathed vitality into the dead language of Latin, now presents a witty and delightful collection of French phrases and aphorisms. A preface explains the criteria for inclusion: phrases that appear in books written in English, and proverbs and maxims that conveyed a French point of view. Arrangement is alphabetical, with the articles la, le, les, un, and une in the proper letter sequence. The entries include syllabic pronunciation and literal translation followed by colloquial meanings and then explanations of the phrases. The book is a joy to peruse. Readers can pick it up and browse wherever they like and come away with an increased knowledge of French usage. Sections on pronunciation and major literary figures add greatly to its value. Students in creative writing classes will especially benefit from the extensive and well-organized listing of phrases that will enhance any paper they are writing.?Peggy Mooney, Pohick Public Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805058109
• ISBN-13: 978-0805058109
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,448,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ehrlich Does It Again! (in French), December 13, 2000

By 

Laure-Madeleine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout Le Monde with Everyday French (Hardcover)

"Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze 'Tout le Monde' with Everyday French" is another fun book from Dr. Eugene Ehrlich, coeditor of "The Oxford English Dictionary" and author of the the "Extraordinarily Literate" series and other language books. At first glance, "Bons Mots" appears to be a glossary of sorts, or a compendium of useful French expressions and aphorisms, but on closer inspection, one finds a very well presented exposition of classic French phrases and proverbs, with excellent pronunciation guides. This book is not intended to be taken on a trip to France as a guide to what French people are saying, but rather it is a reference book for either looking up something in French that one comes across in one's reading, or a source for interjecting a bit of spice into one's own prose. Dr. Ehrlich's Latin phrase books, "Amo, Amas, Amat" and "Veni, Vidi, Vici" provided a model for this book, so people who like those books will like this one too. One can either use "Bons Mots" like a dictionary or simply read it here and there for fun. Many of the entries are annotated with morsels of French history and usage notes, and there is an index, in English. Highly recommended addition for the well-stocked reference shelf!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Literal translations - NOT, February 20, 2006

By 

Myrna Minkoff "Myrna" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout Le Monde with Everyday French (Hardcover)

I wish to add only a single point to the excellent review, "mostly for dilettantes," which nicely covers the territory.

The so-called "literal" translations offered up by the author are often not. The author always gives us an idiomatic translation and then usually offers us something said to be "literal." These second translations are also often quite idiomatic and therefore unhelpful.

If only a single definition is provided, I personally tend to prefer a rather literal one as they are often charming and memorable (to my Anglophone ear) and the figurative meaning is usually not difficult to grasp. But if two definitions are to be given, certainly the first one should be figurative, as the author has done here. The second one, however, should be highly literal to preserve the charm and allow the learner to understand all the words and experience fully the richness of the expression.

I opened the book at random to test my notion here and came upon: "Il faut vous faire soigner," with the first definiton "better see a shrink." Then we are offered a supposedly literal translation "you need to have your head examined." Problem is that "head" is strictly implied and so, is not part of the literal expression. And, this treatment leaves the reader with no help as to what the word "soigner" literally means. Her figuratively translation is fine. A reasonable literal translation would be "you need to have yourself treated."

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for the novice French speaker, July 25, 2004

By 

Hello Kitty Ellen (Appleton, WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout Le Monde with Everyday French (Paperback)

I bought this book after loving another book of common expressions we hear in the US (or read in books) and wonder what their exact meaning is in their native language. I didn't enjoy reading this book of phrases because most of the French expressions were far too advanced for me. I had French in high school and German in college but I pick things up quickly and thought I would be OK with this book. The book is not a good reference for flipping through because a lot of the phrases are just not something you will ever run across while reading literature or even while in France on vacation. Also, it would be impossible to memorize these long phrases and put them to use unless you are very, very advanced in French. The title, Bon Mots (good words): How to Amaze Tout Le Monde (everyone) with Everyday French is misleading. This is not everyday French.