If you plan to win next year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, you may want to have a look at the Tameri Guide for Writers, a site dedicated to writers, instructors, and students.

Here’s one of the tips they give:

When you want a character to sound pretentious, nothing beats a nice turn of French. Somehow, American writers (and readers) associate all things French with money, pretense, and culture. It’s quite the mix of responses, a “love-hate” relationship with France. If you want a character with class, or one completely without class, French is a wonderful tool.

Some of the examples of French phrases to use:

au revoir – until we meet again
bête noire – a thing especially disliked
bon jour – good day; hello
coup de grâce – death blow
Dieu défend le droit – God defends the right
en rapport – in sympathy
femme de chambre – chambermaid
honi soit qui mal y pense – evil be with him who has evil thoughts
le roi est mort, vive le roi – The king is dead, long live the king.
le style, c’est l’homme - the style is the man
nom de guerre – assumed name
pis aller – last resort
quand même – nevertheless; nonetheless
raison d’état – for the good of the country
voilà – look or see

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to write a chef d’oeuvre…

Tameri Guide for Writers | French phrases